


Save. Trade.

by LaughingThalia



Series: What Makes A Family Your Family. [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Grayson (Comics), Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Justice League - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Barry Isn't the Flash, F/M, Flash Family, Flashpoint (DCU), Flashpoint - Freeform, Wally West is The Flash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-15 03:56:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 29,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13605021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingThalia/pseuds/LaughingThalia
Summary: Who and what would Wally trade in order to save his mother?Wally West runs back in time to save his mother but in doing so he finds himself in a timeline in which his uncle is dead, he barely knows the woman he's engaged to and his best friend works for a super secret spy organisation and hates everyone. He'd traded Barry's life  and Dick's well-being for his mother's life, now it's time to find out who's more important to Wally and who would he give up.---Plus the world was about to come to an end so there's that.





	1. PROLOGUE) No Body. Two Bodies.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally getting round to my Flashpoint Fic.  
> 

**PROLOGUE: EARTH-25, alternate time line**

  
  
**LOCATION: The West-Allen house, Central City  
DATE: 20/06/2016**

_Nothing had been the same since they had defeated The Light. The Young Justice Team was mourning, The Justice league was mourning, even The Rogues were mourning, refraining from crime in order to allow Central City to recover from the massive blow they had been dealt. A statue had been resurrected, a statue to The Flash._

_Iris West had spent the whole week holed up in her house with Wally and Artemis and Bart with members of the JL coming by everyday to mourn with them. Barry had been the slowest of the speedsters and he had been the syphon for all the excess energy, he had simply ceased to exist. Iris couldn't even bury a body._

_Batman came by, thankfully not in costume, and he stared at the chair Barry usually sat in for a few moments before turning to Iris “If you need anything, anything at all don't even hesitate to ask.”_

_Iris nodded, Bruce never said 'I'm so sorry for your loss', he never said 'My condolences'. Iris couldn't tell if he could tell she was sick of condolences at that point or if he was just emotionally stunted enough to not think to say it but either way Iris was grateful for the sentiment “Thank you Bruce.”_

_He glanced at Bart and then back at Iris and then hesitated._

_“What?” She said, sensing he definitely wanted to say something.”_

_“Maybe now's not the best time.” Bruce decided._

_“No. Tell me, otherwise it will be bugging me.” Iris demanded._

_“Bart's you grandchild. Barry's ...ceased... so how is he still here?”_

_Iris, Wally and Bart all stared at each other and then Iris stood up “No. No! I'm not pregnant right now. Am I?” Bruce reached into his pocket and pulled out three pregnancy tests and handed them to her wordlessly. “Bart's father was a twin! I can't have twins right now! Not without Barry! I can't do it alone!”_

_Artemis hugged her tight “Iris you'll have all the help in the world. Me and Wally will be right here.”_

_\------_

_Bruce took Wally aside whilst Artemis and Bart comforted Iris. “Wally, I know this really isn't a good time-for any of this really- but that's why the JL has me, I say the things needed to get things done.”_

_“What is it?”_

_“We need a new Flash.”_

_“What!?” Wally exclaimed._

_“I have three reasons, let me get through all of them before you accuse me of being an insensitive asshole. Number 1: Central City only has one fully fledged hero and that's the Flash, he's been doing it on his own since you retired and Bart's not ready to take on everyone. You're the only one who can. Number 2: The Justice League needs to keep it's full roster. Flash was part of the original 7 and it will be perceived as a weakening if we don't keep the original 7-”_

_“You come here to tell me to be the Flash just so you can keep all your pawns in play you insensitive asshole-”_

_“I thought I said wait for the third reason.” Batman reached into his suit and pulled out a piece of paper “When we became an official League I made everyone write a will and review it every year on the anniversary of our founding because there may come a day when we die. I haven't read it but according to Hal it mentions him wanting you to take over as the Flash.” He handed Wally the letter and watched the younger man finesse it open carefully and speed read it._

_His shoulders seemed to sink as he read it “He wants me to take on his legacy.”_

_“Wally, no one's saying you have to. You and Artemis have made lives for yourselves outside of the Hero business but don't dismiss it so quickly.”_

_“Bruce who am I kidding. Me and Arti have been so bored we practically leapt at the chance to be involved again even if it meant fake dying and going undercover and whatever else Nightwing's crazy plan involved. We were bound to come back at some point, and I've kind of outgrown Kid Flash at this point. It was almost inevitable that I'd become the Flash eventually, I think everyone assumed I would.”_

_“So you'll accept?”_

_“I need to talk to Artemis first but... yeah. You're looking at the newest Flash.”_

_“Okay, and Wally... I know it may seem hard, you're not Barry but you don't have to be. You are your own Flash, we don't have to pretend to the world that you're the same guy, in fact let them_ know _you're the old Kid Flash, redesign the costume to show your hair do whatever, just keep the colour scheme.”_

_“Yeah I know I don't need to imitate him. Uncle Barry always told me being the Flash wasn't about being fast or being smart or being quippy, it was about helping people whenever you could. With the KF name now officially not me I guess Bart can be the new Kid Flash.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title 'No Body. Two Bodies.'  
> As in Iris had no Body to bury in Barry's grave and Iris has two babies growing inside her.


	2. 1) The Last In Life. The First In Death.

  **Chapter 1:**

**EARTH-25, What Makes A Family and Family (Main) Timeline**

**LOCATION: Keystone City Police Station**

**DATE: 30/06/2019**

Wally couldn't take it. It wasn't fair that his mother had died whilst his father still lived on. Mary West was the best mum he could have asked for, she was kind and she always let him know that Wally was loved, even if sometimes Rudolph, his dad, made it seem like the opposite. He'd never told Uncle Barry about Rudy's... transgressions. It made him feel weak, he was a super hero who was scared of his own father, but the lack of words probably didn't stop Barry from figuring it out. Some people in the JL grouped him with Green Arrow and Hal Jordan as being one of the denser ones when it comes to people but he was more perceptive than people gave him credit for. Or maybe Mary had told Iris and Barry when she asked her sister if Wally could stay with them in Central. Although if that were the case he couldn't imagine Iris letting her sister go back to Rudy, not if she knew how hard his fists hit, how strong his kicks to the ribs were, all the bruises he and his mum had on their bodies, hidden under long sleeves and makeup.

And now none of it mattered because she was dead.

Wally's entire being hurt. It felt like his cells were being ripped apart by the Speedforce, at that had happened to him once, he could compare the sensations better than anybody. She was gone and he hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. His mother was dead, the mother who had protected him his whole life from his ass hole dad and slaved away to make sure he was okay through everything.

When he'd been called in to ID her body in the morgue he had almost thrown up. She had had no ID on her so it had taken them a few days to track him down, she'd been dead 5 days already and no one had even reported her missing. His dad hadn't seemed to care where she'd gone and Wally only spoke to her over the phone since they lived a whole city apart, it's not like they spoke every day. When she didn't call on Wednesday like she was supposed to Wally had been glad because it meant he could go to that party with Roy without worrying about what to say to her.

Wally wished he could turn back time and just call her, he'd rather everyone at that party be dead than his mother. His poor, sweet mother who was cold to the touch from being inside a freezer for so long and pale to the sight from the lack of blood thrumming through her veins and Wally couldn't help the way he shook when he'd told the officers that it was his mum, it was Mary West. Why his dad hadn't been the one to do this he'd never know but he was glad he wasn't. It would be too cruel if after everything he'd put them through Robert Rudolph 'Rudy' West was the first person she knew who saw her in death.

Roy suddenly popped back into his head, Roy's parents had died. So had Dick's actually, Both of his best friends were orphans and with Rudolph as his dad Wally might as well be too. Maybe the three of them were cursed. Dick had been 9 when his parents had died and he'd been devastated but he'd managed but maybe that was because he HAD to manage. Wally was a speedster, he could travel through time. He could make this whole thing right. He could go back, save his mum and get her out of Keystone City and away from his dad and into Central with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris. Iris was her sister in law but she must understand what her brother's like after all these years.

The world started slowing down as he contemplated his idea. It didn't require contemplation. It was a no brainer, he could save his mum, he had the power to save his mum so of course he had to. The officer in charge of her case turned to him in slow motion “Iiiii'mmmm sooooorrrrryyyyy fooooor-” the sentence seemed to drag on for an eternity but Wally was already gone.

Running through the streets at top speed, faster than he'd ever gone before focusing on one point in time, one seemingly insignificant moment in history that would change everything.

Wally West was going to save his mum if it was the last thing he did.


	3. 2) Iris Wore Summer Colours. Iris Was Wearing Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may noticed through out this whole series, the names for each fic title at least is made in a way that in the context of the fic one word is a synonym or a direct opposite of the other.
> 
> In the first one 'Big Brother. Dad.' the point is that Dick is Damian's big brother but he's more like Damian's dad.
> 
> 'Best Friends. Brothers.' has a similar point in that they're best friends but they view each other as brothers.
> 
> 'Criminal. Wife.' is to show that Selina sees herself as a criminal, as Catwoman but Bruce and his family see her more as Bruce wife-figure and their mum-figure; Gotham's princess if you will.
> 
> 'Borrowing. Stealing.' is a play on something brought up in the fic itself, they insist they're just borrowing Oliver's car even though they are stealing it since they don't have his permission.
> 
> 'Save. Trade.' is basically a "What or who would you give up (trade) in order to save someone you love?" kind of situation. In this fic I'm trying to do a similar thing for every fic title, it's bound to be moderately long so we'll see how well that goes.

****

**Chapter 2:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: A street in Central City  
DATE: 30/06/2019**  
Wally tripped and fell flat onto the pavement of a busy street. “Careful dude.” Someone grumbled at him as they scooted around him.

Another person scoffed “Klutz.”

Wally picked himself up embarrassed. Everything _looked_ the same. Then again what was Wally expecting, Mary West was not a woman of influence, she didn't make waves. Whether she lived or died, whether she was abused or not wouldn't impact anyone else's life in Keystone City.

His mum was somewhere in this city, alive. He smiled as he turned around to run to their house in down town Keystone when a familiar jingling sound drew his attention. Wally frowned, that sounded like Uncle Barry's Justice League communicator. He pulled out a phone he didn't recognise and answered it “Hello?”

“Flash,” a gravely voice came through the speaker “I need you in Metropolis now, Superman needs a hand.”

Flash? “Um,” he said carefully “I think you have the wrong number-”

“I don't have time for your jokes Wally. Get to Metropolis.” And then he hung up.

Wally frowned, he knew he was Wally West and yet he'd referred to him as 'Flash'. Maybe whoever that was made a mistake and he meant 'Kid Flash' maybe he had been abbreviating it for time, either way Superman needed a speedster and a speedster he would get. He grinned when he saw the Flash ring on his finger and ducked into an alley way as he put it on as fast as a speeding bullet and reached the Midwestern city of Metropolis in a nano-second. 

Superman was engaged in a deadly game of arm wrestling with a huge squid looking monster in the centre of the city and Wally had to stop and stare at it for a second, “What the hell?” he said into his open comm line.

“Flash!” Superman exclaimed, his voice strained from exertion “Thank God. Toy Master made a giant squid robot and teamed up with Lex to fill it with kryptonite. There's an off switch hidden somewhere in the city, you need to find it!”

Wally saluted and was off to find the switch, not even bothering to correct Superman this time when he'd called him by the wrong name for the sake of time. The switch was fairly easy to locate once he'd searched half the city block by block and Superman thanked him once he'd disposed of the squid and the kryptonite, again calling him Flash.

“Why does everyone keep calling me-” He looked down at himself and saw the red costume. Red? Why was he wearing red? Had he accidentally taken Barry's ring? That would be hilarious as it meant Uncle Barry was currently running around in too small yellow kevlar but it seemed unlikely as the red costume Wally was wearing fit him perfectly, like it had been made for him. Had Barry upgraded his suit? Wally grinned and said a goodbye to Clark, he needed to get back to Iris' house and thank Barry for the new costume.

When he knocked on the door a blond girl he recognised as Roy's girlfriend's sister opened the door. What was Roy's girlfriend's sister doing at his house? What was Roy's girlfriend's sister doing kissing him on the mouth!? “Good job Wally, you sorted that like a pro. Barry would be so proud of you.”

Would be? “Yeah, um... where is he?”

The blond girl- Artemis, his brain supplied- sighed “Batman's still not sure. Blue Beetle is still just saying that he ceased and no one is any clearer as to what that means exactly.” Wally must have looked confused because she agreed with him. “Yeah I'm confused too. It doesn't make any sense.”

Clearly they were confused about different things. Iris came out from the kitchen dressed in a black summer dress, that was odd since Iris always wore summer colours, they apparently complimented her fair skin or whatever. Wally's eyes almost boggled out of his head when he saw the two babies crawling after her. She had CHILDREN? Holy hell!

And then someone else came out from the same room; a teen, younger than him but with the same shock of ginger hair and the same nervous energy. Who the hell was this guy? He looked like they could be related but Wally had never met him and he seemed way too comfortable around here to be new. It took Wally a second to remember he was in a new time line which means he probably did know this kid, and Iris probably did have kids with Barry by now and Artemis might actually be his girlfriend and Wally may be the Flash- 

Iris was wearing black. Barry wasn't here. Artemis was sad. Artemis didn't know where Barry was. Would be? “Ceased”. Iris was wearing black. She looked like she'd been crying. _“Ceased”_. Wally was the Flash. Ceased. _Ceased._

Barry Allen was dead. 

The realisation hit him like a truck and it must have projected because suddenly Artemis had enveloped him in a hug “I know. I know, sometimes it all just comes back. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I miss him too.”

Wally could tell she expected her words to comfort him but this Wally didn't know the Artemis of his own timeline and he certainly didn't know the Artemis of this new one so all he felt was coldness instead of the steady warmth, thawing out his heart like she expected.

“Yeah. Thank you, I know.” He said, saying the most generic things. He needed to figure out what was going on. “I- I just need a moment alone for a while.”

“Okay, Walman. You take all the time you need, just take your comm.” The ginger kid said sadly.

Wally gave him a shaky smile, hoping that was in-keeping with their previous interactions and then he was off, he needed to get out of this place filled with strangers acting like family and family that was no longer with them.


	4. 3) Today Is The Day. This Was It.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title explained:  
> 'This was it' is just a reference to the fic directly, this was it, he gets to see his mother alive again.
> 
> 'Today is the Day' is a Young Justice reference some of you may recognise from the first episode.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5dDumtvVE

****

**Chapter 3:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: An apartment in Central City  
DATE: 30/06/2019**  
  
A quick check through the house showed an address book that had his mother's house listed as an apartment just around the corner from Iris' house. Wally grinned the whole way there. His body vibrated in excitement, his mum was alive! His mum was happy! His mum was away from his dad! He wanted to dance or something equally as cheesy.

He knocked on the door and stood there with a bouquet of flowers; pink carnations for love; red carnations for admiration; and white carnations for a mother who has passed. There was only one white one, he had given the rest to some lady on the street since he didn't need them because his mother was alive! 

Tap, tap, tap. Her footsteps towards the door. “One second!” This was it. Wally's heart beat so fast a heart monitor wouldn't have been able to track it. _This was it_! She opened the door and she seemed a little surprised to see him “Wally! This isn't your usual day. What's up?”

“Do I need a day or a reason to visit my favourite woman in the whole wide world?” He said cheerfully, giving her a huge hug, kiss on the cheek and then handing her the flowers.

“Oh wow, these are beautiful, I'll get them in some water. But what are they for?”

“I just really-” _missed you_ “appreciate you, and I wanted you to know that. I love you mum.”

“Oh Wally, I love you too. So much. Are you sure you're okay though?”

He nodded “Yeah I'm okay. I just... I miss Uncle Barry and I don't ever want anything to happen to you and I don't ever want you to think I didn't care about you-” he cut himself off with a choked sob. It wasn't fair that just as he'd gotten his mum back his uncle had died. How could he be as happy as he was when Barry was gone?

“Oh sweetie, I could never think you didn't care about me. You come by every Thursday and we hang out, I know you're busy now what with the fiancée and helping Iris with the twins and being the Flash but you still always make time for your mum.”

Wally's registered that she knew he was the Flash, he guessed since they were so much closer to each other here, he had either told her or she had figured it our, either way, she knew and it was liberating. In his old timeline, he had had to lie to his mother all the time about his friends and his 'clubs' and what he was doing but now he didn't have to!

Mary had some oh her famous banana cream pie in the fridge and cut him a slice and Wally relished every bite, in his own timeline he hadn't had his mother's cooking in years. They sat and talked and Wally had a warmth in his chest the whole time and when his mother said she had to get to her bridge club Wally watched her rushing around gathering her belongings and then they left together, Wally feigned going back to Iris' when Mary pecked a kiss on his cheek and then she hopped in her car and was off to the church hall where bridge took place every week. The now scarlet speedster still didn't know what 'Bridge' actually was but he was just glad his mother had become old enough to play it, it meant she lived long enough to be old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In writing this fic I had to come up with a world ending event that would be on the level of that huge explosion and the Aquaman VS Wonder Woman war of the original Flashpoint Paradox (or at least the animated movie since I haven't read the comic) whilst also getting the heart of the Thomas and Bruce Wayne story line and the tenseness of the Barry loosing his powers story line plus that whole deal with Lois and company.
> 
> That story is so good and it's hard to mimic it in a way that's still fluid in this new timeline with different circumstances.


	5. 4) It Was 'Hi M'gann.' Not 'Hello Megan!' - There Must Be Some Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wally visits Mount Justice and then pays Batman a visit in the Batcave.

**Chapter 4:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

****

**LOCATION: Mount Justice, just outside of Happy Harbor  
DATE: 30/06/2019**

He told his mother he was going home but in reality he was heading to Mount Justice. When he got there he found it filled with teen heroes much like his old team although clearly they were a bit younger than him. 

He saw a dude who must have been the 'blue beetle' Artemis had mentioned earlier and he saw the tell-tale signs of M'gann from the smell of burnt cookies and the stack of girly gossip magazines she liked to read, although the M'gann who appeared was very different from the one he knew.

His Megan had long red hair and a smile on her lips and wore an odd assembly of bright colours that mimicked her uncle's costume whilst also being it's own thing. The white shirt and the red cross and the blue skirt with a yellow belt buckle mixed with her green skin and red hair, all things that shouldn't work together and yet she made it work. His Megan was bubbly and had a very particular look about her.

But this Megan... there must be some mistake. Her hair had been cut short although had retained it's bright red colour. She was wearing almost all black, the only exception being the red cross on her top and the familiar blue cape she wore on her back, although now that he was looking it was shorter than her old one. The blue skirt had been replaced with some black, skin tight covert kevlar trousers and the sparkling smile had been replaced with a neutral, nothing face. “M'gann. Hi.” This Megan looked washed out.

She gave him a small smile “Hey Wally. What are you doing in the Cave?”

Wally almost hit himself. He was the Flash now, of course he wouldn't hang out with the Young Justice Team, he would be in the Watch Tower with the Leaguers. “I just wanted to come back here. Come back-” he didn't say 'home' but he figured she understood, even without reading his mind.

She nodded “Yeah, I know what you mean. After everything that's happened. Nightwing's plan, it was risky and dangerous and stupid and hurtful for the whole team but it worked. It really, really worked and if in this entire war the only casualty was your uncle- well it's unfortunate. It's a tragedy but at least it wasn't more. How's Artemis doing? She was undercover for a while.”

Wally was started to piece this together. The mysterious 'Nightwing' had made a plan to bring down a bad guy, Artemis had gone undercover and somehow in the end Barry had ended up dying because of the plan. That would mean that Artemis was some sort of superhero as well. “Oh yeah, she's fine. She's holding up really well. You know how she is, she's tough.” Megan seemed pleased with that reply so Wally figured he'd done okay to lie to a telepath.

“And how's Iris handling the twins? Last time I saw them they seemed like quite the handful.”

Wally raised his eyebrows in the universal gesture for 'you have no idea' “That's an understatement.” In reality he had no idea, but he figured twins would be a nightmare to deal with, especially whilst also dealing with grief and the stress of being related to superheroes. 

Through out their whole conversation the Blue Beetle guy, some green fish dude, a blond girl with a lasso that looked a lot like Wonder Woman's lasso, some other green dude who he could have sworn became a monkey for a second and Rocket had all very politely pretended to ignore their conversation. The green monkey dude looked a little star struck that he was there but Rocket looked blasé about it, he guessed even in this timeline they had been on the same team, even for a bit. He greeted the room's other occupants before turning back to the Martian and asking “Hey M'gann, can I use your computers?”

She smiled again. It didn't quite reach her eyes. Something about that told Wally that even though Barry may have been the only casualty of this war they'd apparently fought, he hadn't been the only victim. “Sure.”

Wally thanked her and went off to check files. He read through them methodically, starting with Barry's file and then Artemis. Green Arrow's sidekick 'Artemis' (wow original) turned undercover agent in the Light turned Tigress and also his current fiancée. Damn. He read through his won file and was shocked to see some of the missions he had pulled off in this timeline, it seemed having Robin on The Team had cranked everything to the max.

He read through Batman's and frowned, a Gotham vigilante who seemed to have replaced Black Canary in the Justice League line up, that seemed unfair, Black Canary was the best at what she did. Although from his files alone it would seem Batman was better and Black Canary was still around just in a lesser capacity. Her main job seemed to be baby sitting The Team and being Green Arrow's second, he would hardly call her his sidekick, in fact from the files it seemed more like she was in charge of the two and GA just acted like he was the boss because he was more established in Star City. Wally also read through Nightwing's file and was shocked when it dawned on him that Robin turned Nightwing turned MIA was Dick Grayson. His best friend Dick Grayson. It seemed they were best friends in this timeline as well although apparently because of all the backlash from the various teams about his plans and lack of transparency he had gone into self exile, ostracising himself form the superhero community. According to the file Dick Grayson was dead although there was a small note from Batman at the bottom saying that this was untrue and that the guy was running around somewhere.

Wally didn't know this Grayson, he was different, he was a super hero here, but Dick Grayson was still his best friend and he was clearly hurting and knowing him he probably blamed himself for Barry's death. Wally had to find him and tell him it would be okay but there was nothing in his file that even seemed remotely like a clue, nothing at all. He sighed when he saw that the only one likely to have information on him was his scary looking ex-mentor Batman, the caped crusader of Gotham. Well it looked like the next cave he would be in was The Bat Cave.


	6. 5) Hurt, Blame, More Hurt.

**Chapter 5:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Somewhere underneath Gotham, Bat Cave  
DATE: 30/06/2019**

It was only when Wally reached the Batcave that a number of thoughts ran through his head. The most important one being that he didn't know Batman but Batman knew him and he was supposed to be the best detective which means the guy could detect him as not their Wally. 

But before he could turn around and rectify that mistake Batman was in front of him “Flash what are you doing here?” The Bat growled menacingly.

The file had said he didn't like other heroes in his space. Wally figured the cave counted as his space. “I um- I just wanted to know if Dick was doing okay.”

The white lenses bore a hole into Wally's eyes for a moment before the 6'2 (188cm) hulking mass of muscles and kevlar relaxed slightly and he pulled the cowl off of his head revealing the blue eyes and slightly dishevelled hair of Bruce Wayne. Wally tried not to react, he really tried. The fact that Batman was revealing himself must have meant he already knew but BRUCE WAYNE WAS BATMAN?

Bruce Wayne was _alive_ in this timeline. He wanted to laugh, his mother living had also given Dick back his father as well.

But then Bruce sighed “I'm not exactly sure _what_ Dick's up to or where he is. All I know is that he's alive.”

Wally frowned “What do you mean?”

“After the death of-” he cut himself off, almost for his own sake than Wally's “After Barry _'ceased'_ Dick blamed himself. Amanda Waller managed to get her claws into him-”

“Amanda Waller!” West exclaimed.

“Yeah, he ran a few missions with the Suicide Squad as their handler.”

“No way! I can't imagine Dick blowing up their heads if they misbehaved.”

“Yeah after a couple of missions The Squad started to realise that as well and on their last mission it got a little messed up, Dick Grayson ended up very publicly dying but he's not dead and we have no way to explain that one away so Dick Grayson is dead but Nightwing persisted.”

“So we should be able to find him, right?”

“You're a couple months too late. He and Huntress were working together in Blüdhaven but then she got recruited by some agency and then pulled him in too. I get glimpses of the two of them sometimes but they're too good to get caught and their agency is too good to let them.”

Wally frowned “So I can't find him?”

“Why do you want to find him?”

“He's my best friend. He's hurting.”

“Yeah well it probably didn't help when you blamed him for Barry's death.” Bruce spat venomously.

Wally flinched. He'd done that? He'd blamed Dick? “I was hurting. He needs to know that I don't blame him. It really wasn't his fault.”

“What changed your mind?” Batman asked.

He sighed “Cooler heads prevailed, I looked at it from an outside perspective. Uncle Barry, he would have done it again to save the world even if he knew he'd end up... ceasing. I can't blame Dick for that.”

“And his plan?”

“I was always against the plan, the keeping secrets part of it but not because I didn't think it would work, I always trusted it would work because I trusted Dick. I just didn't like the secrets and the lies and the tricks.”

Batman sighed “Yeah, no one was a fan of that. Look, if I find anything on Nightwing or Huntress I'll let you know but right now I literally have nothing.”

“But you're the best detective in the world!”

“I still don't know how I got that title, I've never claimed that. Tim is really a better detective than me.”

It took a moment for Wally to reconcile the nerdy, sleep deprived, workaholic, coffee obsessed kid he knew from his own timeline was a superhero in his own right. He figured he'd be doing that a lot until he had his head around everything. A lot of things were different here, but he'd shoulder it all if it meant time with his mum.


	7. 6) You Can't Sit With Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are all the various DC properties that this version of events has drawn inspiration from:  
> \- Young Justice (hence why I've gone for the ginger West family and not black Wests like current comics of the TV show).  
> \- Green Lantern: The Animated Series  
> \- Nightwing Rebirth comics #1-#10  
> \- Justice League Unlimited  
> \- Batgirl Rebirth #1  
> \- Flash (CW) + Flashpoint (The Flash TV show version AKA Season 3 episodes 1-2)  
> \- The Flashpoint Paradox (animated movie)  
> \- Arrow (barely)  
> \- Gotham (even less so)
>
>>  
>> 
>> **SPOILERS FOR YJ and Green Lantern TAS**  
>  The reason being is because DC comics has so much stuff and those are the things I watched/read so those are the things I know and a lot of the stuff is just character traits, motivations some of it is plot points like how Barry died if you replace Wally with Barry in YJ or what happened to Aya in Green Lantern: TAS or the concept of Flashpoint itself. The rest is just background info like who would be at a Wayne Gala or who Iris works with and stuff like that.  
> 

****

**Chapter 6:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Lower Earth orbit, The Watchtower**  
DATE: 30/06/2019

Wally West had always loved trips to the Watchtower, when he'd been Kid Flash he'd never been allowed up here much but now he was the Flash he had unlimited access. In the Cafeteria there was a plaque dedicated to Barry since he was the one who spent the most time there, Wally would have laughed if it hadn't meant he was really gone.

Superman and Wonder Woman were sat at a table with Green Lantern (Hal) and Martian Manhunter. The former three were all eating burrittos and nachos whilst J'onn J'onzz was simply working his way through a packet of oreos.

Milling about he spotted Green Arrow and Black Canary playing footsie underneath a table, John Stewart GL seemed to be trapped in an awkward position between Vixen and Hawkgirl, his ex-bae and his current girl. This is way Barry said not to date within the team.

Aquaman and Mera were laughing loudly with Shazam (Captain Marvel), Cyborg and Icon. Around the hall, other various superheroes and heroines were talking and laughing and eating with each other.

Wally felt like he was back in highschool, who did he sit with? He steered clear of the couples since he wasn't about to be a third wheel or get caught up in whatever mess John Stewart was in. He automatically ruled out the 2 out of the 3 members of the golden trio sitting with two other founding members of the team and turned his sights on the more B-list heroes like Icon or the Atom or Captain Atom or Captain marvel (who was apparently called Shazam in this time line for some reason?). Captain Atom had always scared him and Atom would probably blabber on about some science thing that not even uncle Barry would have understood so he turned away from them too.

Maybe Firestorm and Zatanna? Firestorm was a bit of a weird one since it was actually two people and they didn't typically walk around as one person. Ronnie was overly childish and immature whilst the professor and Zatanna seemed to be in a serious discussion about the merits of science vs magic. Wally wasn't about to insert himself into that conversation thank you very much.

He must have been standing there for a while because when he looked back around the room Superman was gesturing him over. Wally resisted the urge to check if he was talking to someone behind him because Kal-el was clearly looking at him and so he took his lunch tray and sat down next to Hal greeting them all casually.

“Are you okay Wally?” Diane asked “You seemed a bit lost over there.”

Wally grinned at her reassuringly “Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought.”

Hal snorted “That's a first.”

J'onn looked at him “I sense something is bothering you.”

Wally sighed “I've just recently realised that blaming Dick is stupid only now I can't find him and tell him that.”

“Why don't you just ask Batman?” Superman asked with a frown.

“I guess he didn't tell you that apparently Nightwing and Huntress are off playing spies for some top secret organisation.”

Hal frowned “I thought they teamed up to protect Blüdhaven?”

Wonder Woman shook her head “That was a while ago, they fell off everyone's radar.”

“Mmm.” Hal frowned “I've been off planet for a while. There was a whole thing with the Red Lanterns, it was pretty wild.”

Wally snorted “I can imagine. Tell me about it.”

“The Guardians of the Universe created this dope ass GL space ship with a built in AI called Aya and then expected me NOT to drive it. Anyways me, Kilowag, Aya and this red lantern Razor ended up trapped in the outer systems and we had to travel back the slow way and fix problems along the way and also stop a war between the Reds and the Greens which I'll admit was 100% the Guardians fault and then there was this whole thing with these killer robots called Manhunters. Oh and Aya became sentient and fell in love with Razor which was fine until he broke her heart.”

Superman looked a bit shocked “Wow. That... does sound pretty wild.”

Wonder Woman nodded in agreement “So how did you defeat these 'Manhunters'?”

“Uuuuum. Technically we didn't.”

“What do you mean you didn't?” Superman asked confused.

“Aya... Aya took control of the Manhunters since she was- is a robot and they flew away into the outer cosmos and she swore she would fix the problem of humanity aka destruction of biological, illogical beings and the Guardians of the Universe ordered me back to earth and unless I want to get kicked out before I have a chance to get her back, I had to obey.”

Wally frowned “So... wait... there's an army of robots hell bent on the destruction of living beings just out in the universe?”

There was a beat of silence around the table before Hal shrugged “Yeah pretty much. Don't worry though, the universe is huge, if they do anything or make a move we'll find out way before they reach here.”

“And what about that first planet they go after? You said they were on the Outer Rim, there aren't a lot of lanterns out there.”

“We have Lanterns patrolling out there now to look for them, plus that new lantern ship I was talking about can get us out there in seconds. It only took ages to get back because I broke it with my fancy flying. But they fixed it up and they have a bunch of them now, they're really useful.” Hal looked at their still worried faces and smiled “Really guys, don't worry, the Green Lantern Corps has everything under control!”

Hal would come to regret those words. The Green Lantern Corps decidedly did _not_ have everything under control.


	8. 7) Sick Soldatino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting so much because I live in England and the country basically comes to a stand still in snow.  
> We used up all our salt supply in four days. FOUR DAYS! and people raided and burnt down a Lidl in Ireland so...

****

**Chapter 7:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Central City National Bank**  
DATE: 01/07/2019 DAY/MONTH/YEAR

Wally had just stopped Top from robbing a bank, which had been pretty difficult seeing as the woman had kept inducing his vertigo and making him extremely dizzy but he got her eventually and handed her over to the police, a Detective Thawne and Captin Singh. He said some quippy line about reuniting her with her boyfriend, Mirror Master, in jail and a couple of the officers on the scene chuckled. Thawne did not look amused, what what that guy's deal? Oh well, Wally didn't worry about it, instead he zoomed back home where Iris had just made dinner. Iris sat at the head and next to her was an empty seat that Wally suspected Barry used to sit and then Bart saw and across from him was Artemis and next to her between Artemis and Iris was Wally's seat. As soon as he got back Iris ushered him to the table and Bart placed everyone's plates down using super speed “Don't super speed the plates on to the table Bart! You're cracking them!” Iris held up her plate and showed the small cracks forming on the base “Look at this! I like this set, I don't want to have to buy new ones.”

“Sorry aunt Iris.” Bart said, bashfully, “I forgot about that.”

Iris smiled at him “Just please try not to do it again, same goes to you Wally.”

“Yeah sure aunt Iris.” Wally nodded, slightly distracted by Artemis slipping her hand into his. This would be a problem. He assumed Artemis might have just been at his house that day but this was his fiancée, she probably spent most of her time here, especially since her dad was a total prick and her mum lived in Gotham.

Wally wondered if Artemis was mad at Dick about the whole plan and if she wasn't why hadn't she tried harder to convince him not to be? Maybe she had tried and he hadn't listened. He'd have to approach the issue carefully. He'd have to approach _her_ carefully or she'd realise that he had no clue who she was. 

When was their wedding?

Things were getting to stressful but thankfully she let go of his hand to get her food and the food gave him a valid excuse to avoid certain conversations although he made sure to pipe in a lot when recognisable subjects came up since no matter what the multi-verse the one constant is that speedsters always run their mouths. 

 

****

**_Flashback_  
EARTH-25, Main Timeline**

**LOCATION: Rudy West's House, Keystone City**  
DATE: 23/11/2002

_“Mommy, I don't feel well.” A young Wally West sniffed as he looked up at his mum._

_She felt his forehead and frowned._

_“Did I make you mad?” Wally asked scared. When people got mad they got violent, he learnt that from his dad._

_“No sweetie,” she bent down to hug him “I'd never be mad at you. Never, okay, you remember that.”_

_“Okay.”_

_“Promise me.”_

_“I promise.”_

_“I'm not mad, but your temperature is much too high, I think you're sick. You have the flu.” She picked him up with some effort._

_“I'm a big boy! I can walk!”_

_“But you're my little baby, even when you're 100 years old I'll still lift you up and carry you around when your sick.” She carried him to his bed and placed him on it and he crawled underneath the covers. “I'll get you some ice and a damp cloth.”_

_“Okay.” he mumbled quietly into the covers._

_When she came back his eyes were closed and he'd thrown the covers off himself in an attempt to cool down and then he started shivering “Mummy, I'm really cold.” He curled in on himself and she reapplied the covers to him. “Don't leave me.”_

_“I'll never leave you.” She said, brushing a hand through his slightly sweaty hair “I'll always be right here.”_

_“Could you sing the song?”_

__**I suggest playing the song at least to the chorus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9fu5rJ3k4Q Soldatino (Nico's Lullaby) by Paola Bennet.**  
_She smiled down at her son and started singing sweetly:_  
_Close your eyes_  
_I know what you see_  
_The darkness is high_  
_And you're in ten feet deep_  
_But we've survived  
_More terrible monster than sleep  
_And you know I will be here, to tell you to breathe___

_____ _

_Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)_  
_la ragione per cui vivo (the reason i live)_  
_non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)  
_io vegliero su di te (i'm watching over you)__

_____ _

_stumbling lost_  
_The last choice of all that you meet_  
_It's the cost_  
_Of ruling those 'neath your feet_  
_Paths you've crossed,_  
_and trust you're trying to keep  
_You're exhausted  
_Listening for a voice that can't speak___

_____ _

_Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)_  
_la ragione ho vissuto (the reason I live)_  
_non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)  
_io vegliero su di te (i'm watching over you)__

_____ _

_So you run_  
_Through shadows you roam_  
_seams undone_  
_By the love you thought you could own_  
_but he's just one  
_Of many that you might call home  
_And maybe someday, the bitter will fade from your bones  
_Fade from your bones...____

_____ _


	9. 8) The Time Travel Test

****

**Chapter 8:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: West-Allen House**  
DATE: 08/07/2019 (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

It had been a week before anything happened. Anything besides small robberies and petty burglaries that Wally stopped with ease. He'd actually been relaxing at him with Artemis who he'd come to enjoy the company of even if he was still kinda worried about. He had a lot of time to relax actually since he was in-between jobs because he had recently won the lottery. They were lying in bed watching Voltron: Legendary Defenders on his laptop when suddenly Wally felt extremely dizzy, which was an odd sensation to feel when you were lying down. He sat up abruptly, which did not help, and heaved in a deep gulp, he tried to focus on the song his mother used to sing when he was sick only it wasn't in his memory bank which only made him panic more. 

“Wally?” Artemis asked concerned.

“Dizzy-” he choked out.

 

_So you run_  
Through shadows you roam  
seams undone  
By the love you thought you could own 

She retrieved his trash bin in case he threw up and rubbed his back until it passed and then when he said he was okay she fetched him some water. “What was that?”

“I'm not sure. I just felt really dizzy. And then I tried to remember something important and I couldn't.”

“Dizziness and memory loss? Did you get a concussion?”

“If I did it would have healed by now surely.” Wally said with a frown.

She shrugged “Maybe you got the footballers concussion thing. Brain injuries are usually long lasting and sometimes they can be slow.”

Wally frowned “I don't think I have anything like that but I'll get it checked out at The Watchtower.”

She sighed.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head, dismissing it.

“No Artemis, what is it?”

“I don't want to say.”

“Artemis, come on, it's me.”

She sighed reluctantly “I just... you know we used to be a team. We were both on the Young Justice team and then we left the hero game together and tackled normal life as a team and then we were undercover as a team even if we were separated and now you're with the JL and I'm still with the team and it just feels like we're not on the same team any more. And I miss you.”

Wally took her hand, suddenly overflowing with love for her that he had never felt and experiencing emotions he never knew he had “Artemis, we're still on the same team. YJ and the JL and Dick's plan don't mean anything at all when compared to our team. Not only are we on the same team we are the team, we're the quarterback and the striker and the Point Guard rolled into one. I'm always on your team Artemis.”

She laughed “You've just mashed up like three different sports.”

“I love you as much as Kobe loves not passing the ball.”

“I can one up you, I must be Kobe because I'd never pass you up.” She giggled, snuggling him as she did.

“Hey Artemis, whilst we're talking about things I've been thinking lately... it was stupid of me to be mad at Dick.”

Artemis looked up at him through he blonde eyelashes “You've forgiven him?”

“Yeah, I have.”

“Does he know this?”

“I can't find him. I asked Batman but apparently he and Huntress are running with a spy agency now and Batman doesn't even know what they're called.”

“Batman doesn't know? Damn. But I'm glad you forgave him. I didn't want to push you into it, but he has been your best friend for years. He knew you before we even met.”

“Heck it was him who even got me to like you at all.” Wally laughed. Where the hell did he get that information from? He didn't remember that, he wasn't there technically.

“Well I'll help you look for him but for now more Voltron.”

“FORM VOLTRON!” Wally yelled, holding his fist out like superman when he flew.

Artemis laughed “We really should be watching this with The Twins.”

“They're like 3, they wouldn't appreciate the brilliance of Voltron.”

That night when Artemis was asleep Wally snuck out of bed and headed to the Watch Tower. Since some heroes were in different Time Zones and crime was universal the Tower was always bustling with life, and of course because it was night, Batman was there “Shouldn't you be patrolling Gotham?” Wally asked jokingly. He familiarised himself with the Batman lore since their first meeting. There were some crazy fanfics about him and some wild theories about who his secret identity was (there was even a Bruce Wayne one that no one took seriously which was hilarious).

“Shouldn't you be asleep?” He cut back.

“Yeah, I'm going to head to the med bay, I think I hurt my head or something.”

Batman nodded “I think Martian Manhunters in there.”

“Yeah okay, thanks.”

Sure enough when he got to the med bay the green Martian from Mars was there, doing experiments and listening to some of the weirdest music Wally had ever heard.

“It's not weird, it's from Argon-5.” J'onn said.

Wally was extremely confused until he remembered the whole mind reading thing “Hey, I thought you didn't read minds without permission!”

The Martian turned to him and without changing his tone or facial expression simply said “You said that out loud.” 

Wally blushed “Oh... sorry. Ha. Yeah. I guess I hurt my head worse than I thought?”

“You came to check for a head injury?”

“Yeah, I had this weird dizzy spell early and I've been having weird memory blips.”

J'onn ran him through a series of cognitive tests including the time travel test “What day is it.”

“8th of July, 2018.”

“What's the name of your fiancée?”

“Artemis Crock.”

“The name of your best friend?”

“Dick Grayson.”

“Who's the President of the United States?”

“Obama.”

J'onn paused “That was the old President. Who's the current president.”

Wally stared at him blankly “Um... Hillary Clinton?”

J'onn frowned “No she's not president either.”

Wally frowned trying to think who could possibly be President “Bernie Sanders?”

“No, it's Donald Trump.”

“From the apprentice?”

“Yes.”

Wally sputtered “What!” He hadn't been expecting a yes to that question “The apprentice guy is the president?”

“It's not that odd, Reagan was also a on screen star.”

“Yeah but- but- Trump is president?”

“Wally, you didn't pass the time travel test... did you time travel?”

Wally bit his lip nervously, he was so screwed. “Um.... define time travel.”

J'onn sighed “Your memory problems are nothing I can help you with. When you changed the timeline you probably didn't know what was happening because your memories were from your old timeline, any dizziness or forgetfulness is because your brain is correcting your memories to fit this timeline.”

“What? So... eventually I'll forget everything?”

“Given enough time you won't even remember this conversation we're having right now. The timeline will try and erase any evidence of tampering.”

“So what happened to cause you to change time?”

“My mum died.”

J'onn paused “I do not mean to be insensitive or place blame on you Flash but it is very likely that your uncle's death was the timeline trying to right things. The Timeline will often do that.”

Wally felt sick “So it's my fault?”

“No, it's the fault of The Light.”

“But it's my fault he's dead, there is no Light in my timeline, there's no huge plot that winds up with people dead. It's my fault!”

Wally ran out of there before J'onn could reply and he suddenly found himself at Barry's grave. He didn't know how he wound up there, he didn't know it's location, probably just another fake implanted time memory worming its way into his brain and digging everything he had ever known. His memories with his mum, the song she used to sing when he was sick; his friends and all their antics, he'd read what happened to Roy in this timeline, the boy was a clone and he was a wreck and yet he'd still ended up with Cheshire. His uncle was dead because of him, because he couldn't handle his grief like everybody else did. He had screwed with time and now he was paying for it with blood and tears.

He fell to his knees at the grave stone and laughed humorlessly when it started to rain. He felt like he was in some terrible fanfiction with the pathetic fallacy in use but the weather certainly did match his mood, and the rain hid his tears as they poured down his face in the darkness of the night, the moon was covered by clouds so not even the moonlight would shine on him, hiding his shame and burying it in the dark along side the corpses that lined the grave yard.


	10. 9) Buried Shame, Hidden Blame

****

**Chapter 9:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Graveyard, Central City**  
DATE: 09/07/2019 (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

 _Paths you've crossed,_  
and trust you're trying to keep  
You're exhausted  
Listening for a voice that can't speak   
Artemis found him like that in the morning. Soaking wet, shivering and passed out on a grave stone. She woke him up softly and he opened his eyes to see his beautiful fiancée with some coffee, his favourite flavour of bagel and a hug. “Oh Wally.” she whispered into his ear. 

Even as her shirt and jeans got soaked through she didn't pull away as he hugged her tighter. “I'm sorry if I worried you.”

“It's okay. Don't worry about it.”

“I miss him.”

Artemis nodded “Me too Wally, me too. Barry was like the dad I never really had.”

Wally teared up as a memory of his father from the original time line, of his mother stepping in front of his angry fists and his throbbing forehead vein and his flushed red face to protect her son “Yeah he was mine too.”

“He wouldn't want you out here freezing to death. Come on, lets get you home.”

“Yeah okay.” 

Wally wasn't up to running and he really was too wet to walk the whole way so they ended up getting an über who looked a bit annoyed at their varying degrees of wetness but put some plastic bags down and drove them to his house without much complaint.

He changed clothes and then Artemis wrapped him up like a burrito and kissed him on the cheek “I have a YJ meeting soon, but I can cancel if you want. It's not that important, I don't need to go.”

“No, no, you should go. I'm sure the team will want you to be there.”

“Are you sure?”

“I'm positive.”

Artemis nodded “Okay, but if you want me to come back, I will in a heart beat.”

“In a Flash?”

“I'll leave the flash puns to you.” She gave him another kiss and then changed into her Tigress outfit, pulling on the mask and blowing him a kiss as she zeta beamed to Mount Justice.

Wally stared at the ceiling. He didn't deserve any of this. He didn't deserve a great girl like Artemis and he didn't deserve a cool first cousin once removed like Bart (that took some googling **http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/pdfs/tools/eichhorn-rlationship-chart.pdf)**. Everything that Wally had now wasn't really his, it had been built up by some other Wally West in some other timeline and now he had come along and stolen everything from him. It didn't seem right.

The doorbell startled him out of his morbid thoughts. He unwrapped him self from his blanket cocoon and flung to door open only to see Bruce Wayne looking around observing the neighbours houses “Ba-Bruce!” he exclaimed, correcting himself before he could announce to his whole subburb that Bruce Wayne was Batman and lend credence to that conspiracy theory online about them having the same butt shape #DoTheButtsMatch. **(Reference to an Unpretty fic, I can't remember which one tho it was great + http://raptorific.tumblr.com/post/140900606441/bruce-wayne-maintains-a-presence-on-all-conspiracy)**

“Wally.” he said, not really as a greeting but more as an acknowledgement as he invited himself into his house.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well you know...”

“No I don't.”

Bruce sighed like he hadn't wanted to come at all, reached into his jacket pocket (which probably cost the same as his entire house) and pulled out a card.

Wally took it and stared at the cover blankly **'THE WAYNE FAMILY SUMMER CHARITY GALA 2018'** was plastered across the front in fancy writing. “Um...”

“I'm inviting you, Iris, Bart (God help me) and Artemis to the gala, no babies so you're going to have to find a baby sitter for Iris' twins. It's on the 26th. RSVP if you can come.”

“Um...” Wally said again looking from the fancy message inside the card to Batman and back. “Thanks... I'll tell them. I'm sure everyone will be so excited? Also they're toddlers now, not really babies.” For some reason Wally couldn't reconcile the Batman of this universe with the Bruce Wayne of his own. The two seemed so different but they had the same face and it was confusing. He didn't know how to act. “Did you hear anything about Dick?”

“Batgirl said she saw him in Japan, she's spending some time there training in different styles of martial arts, she said he was with some orange clad guy called Raptor. I'm looking into him.”

“Raptor, huh. That's some name.”

“Is that right _Flash_.”

“Okay okay, no need to get sassy with me Brucie boy.”

He sighed insufferable “Don't call me Brucie.”

“Sure thing Brucie.” Bruce sent him a batglare and Wally immediately backtracked “Sorry. Thanks for the invitation.”

“Where is everyone anyway?”

“Bart's training with the team, Artemis just went to some meeting, and Iris is at work. News, like crime, does not rest.”

“If she wants I can get her a press pass.”

“Really?”

“Why not, I give one to Lois, Clark and Kara might as well spread the press passes to my other reporter friends. Wayne Gala is a pretty coveted event.”

Kara? Who the hell was Kara? The name was not even slightly familiar. Like at all. He'd need to look her up “What's Kara's surname again?” he asked, hoping he didn't look suspicious.”

He must have failed because Bruce looked at him weirdly “Danvers.”

“Right, right. For some reason I had the name Olsen in my head.”

“You're thinking of Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal.” he said the last part sarcastically and Wally assumed it must have been a joke so he let out a small laugh. His brain supplied him with a Youtube video of Jimmy being rescued by Superman, the ginger stumbling around the ground in shock and then saying he was Superman's pal to the camera. The Justice League had laughed about it for a month and multiple parodies popped up, it even started the Superman's Pal Challange.

He hated that he knew that. It meant more memories form his life were being pushed out of his head so these new ones could replace it. He could already feel the #WhichGreenLanternIsThis meme fading away. Wally pushed all the stupid memories like memes and jokes to the forefront of his memory in an effort to use them as canon fodder but it only made him aware of how quickly he was losing them when one moment he had #OfficerDICK in his head and the next moment it was replaced with 'Aster', whatever that meant.

It was maddening. He started seeing his mum more often, stopping by outside of his allotted Wednesdays, and he started looking for a job that would allow for his odd hours without risking his secret identity in the Central City area and he found a great part time job as a Police Cruiser Mechanic, it was great seeing as he could already fix cars. For now he could live off his lottery money but Iris was having twins soon and Artemis and he had hero duties they wouldn't always be there to baby sit when she went back to work, Wally figured they should start adding money to the savings rather than just depleting it, and he should also start a savings account for their colleges. He froze for a second and Bart's college. How were they going to get Bart to college? He was a smart kid and he would love it in college but unless he went to CCU the accommodation alone would kill them all, plus all the extra food needed for a speedster.


	11. 10) Oh To Be Rich and Famous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are all the various DC properties that this version of events has drawn inspiration from:  
> \- Young Justice (hence why I've gone for the ginger West family and not black Wests like current comics of the TV show).  
> \- Green Lantern: The Animated Series  
> \- Nightwing Rebirth comics #1-#10  
> \- Justice League Unlimited  
> \- Batgirl Rebirth #1  
> \- Flash (CW) + Flashpoint (The Flash TV show version AKA Season 3 episodes 1-2)  
> \- The Flashpoint Paradox (animated movie)  
> \- Red Hood and The Outlaws New 52  
> \- Arrow (barely)  
> \- Gotham (even less so)

****

**Chapter 10:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Wayne Manor, Gotham**  
DATE: 26/07/2019 (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

https://geckobot.deviantart.com/art/Wayne-Manor-Main-Floor-Plan-517075643

Wally fidgeted in his suit, he felt like it fitted all wrong and it would probably be the cheapest suit at the gala.

“Stop that.” Artemis said, smacking Wally's hands away from his tie “I'm not retying that if you mess it up.”

Iris smiled at the young couple and then turned to Bart who had been doing the exact same thing “That applies to you too Speedy Gonzales. Both of you, try not to get into any trouble tonight please.”

Bart's hands fell away from his bow tie “Look I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble just finds me!” Iris sent him a stern look “But I will try my best to avoid it.”

“Yeah me too.” Wally promised.

Artemis bit her lip “Um Wally... right before we left Jade sent me a text, apparently Roy, our Roy that is, is planning to come along.”

“What?!” Wally sat up in his car seat “Roy's coming?” He hadn't seen Roy in this time line at all, he'd only seen non-clone Roy and that Roy had a serious attitude problem and he wasn't the guy Wally had spent his younger years growing up with. 

“Apparently my sister thought it would be nice for them to go somewhere fancy.”

Bart frowned “But won't Oliver be there too? Doesn't Roy kinda hate him right now?”

Artemis cringed “He doesn’t hate Oliver, he just hates his lectures about him wasting his life. I'm sure Dinah will keep him from doing that and alienated the poor guy.”

Iris nodded as they pulled up outside the mansion and pulled on her Bruce appointed Press Pass. “I still can't believe I got one of these.”

Artemis smiled at her excitement “I bet Linda was so jealous.”

Iris snorted “You have no idea. She had no clue how I managed to score myself this gig but my boss sure was impressed. He's psyched we finally have an insider scoop of the Gala, this is like the Holy Grail to event and gossip journalists.” They pulled up outside the house and showed their invitation and then their car was taken by the valet.

As they walked to the front door Wally caught sight of Diana Princess of Themiscyra arm and arm with Steve Trevor talking to Clark Kent and Lois Lane who were diligently playing the role of reporters and jotting down notes rather than the close friends they all actually were. Clark spotted him across the way and winked at him with a wry smile and then continued with his job.

Iris saw them all as well and smiled “Well if Lois and Clark are already at it I better start gathering some quotes from Gotham High Society.”

She walked into the party with them but as soon as they got inside Iris separated and went about doing her job, immediately making a beeline for the Crownes, one of Gotham's oldest families.

“Well then,” Bart said turning to Wally and Artemis “I guess we're on our own...” he trailed off as the couple peeled off in search of Roy and Jade. “I guess it's just me.” he said with a sigh looking around awkwardly. He made his way over to the huge buffet table filled some of the best food Bart had ever seen. There was even caviare, Bart sped one into his mouth just so he could say he'd eaten caviare. It was okay, nothing to phone home about, he didn't get why rich people loved it. He observed as the mayor of Gotham and his wife spooned a hug helping of caviare onto their plates and went back to their table. 

Looking around, Bart could tell all the tables had names on them which meant there was a table for him somewhere but before he could go in search of it he was ambushed by Tim Drake “Hey Bart.”

Bart turned around startled that someone at this shindig had actually spoken to him, although of course it was just Tim “Hey Tim.”

“How you liking this so far?”

“I literally just got here and my whole family ditched me.”

Tim laughed “Yeah I haven't seen my family since this thing started. Come hang with Zee, Babs and me.”

“Yeah okay.” Bart said “Let me just grab some food real quick.”

“Of course.” Tim smiled with a grin that screamed 'typical speedster'.

“I have fast metabolism!” He whined as he grabbed a plate and put a few huge spoons of pesto pasta onto it “And this food looks great and it's making me hungry.”

“Hey I didn't say anything!” Tim held up his hands in mock surrender.

“You didn't have too, it was written all over your face.” But he wasn't really mad. Bart followed Tim to a table in the corner where Barbara Gordon AKA Batgirl fresh from Japan and Zatanna Zatarra the magician were in animated conversation. “Hey gals.” They both greeted him in turn as the two boys sat down. “I just tried caviare for the first time!”

Barbara laughed “Over rated right?”

“So much. It's not that great, why do people love it so much?”

“I will never know.” Tim smirked.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –  
Wally and Artemis found her sister and Roy in the Ball Room dancing to some song the live band/orchestra was playing. The former couple took up a position next to them on the dance floor and grabbed their attention “Hey guys.” Artemis smiled at them.

Jade smiled back “Hey sis. How's the hero game been treating you two?”

“Pretty good. Wally's with the JL now.”

Roy asked “You still with the team?”

She nodded “With 'Wing AWOL and Babs swanning about Japan someone needs to.”

Jade frowned “What about Megan? She's been on the team almost as long as you have.”

Wally winced “Megan's still dealing with stuff. You know since the whole Kaldur situation a while ago.”

Roy winced as well “Yeah, that was a pretty sucky situation.”

Artemis' head dropped a bit “Yeah, it really was.” She had been there after all, she had been by Kaldur's bed side after M'gann had invaded his mind and broken it and turned him into a brain dead vegetable trapped inside his own head and unable to move. She had gone inside his head and rescued him from himself whilst they'd been undercover with The Light.

Jade smiled sadly “Being a bad guy never suited you Arti, that's why you were always better than me.”

“You given any thought into joining the League?”

Jade glanced at Roy, he was still very bitter about the whole Clone/mole thing from the last time he'd officially been a part of the League “Yeah I don't think so Arti, but we'll still help out if it's serious. I just don't need the fancy badge and a Javelin spaceship.”

“The Javelins are pretty cool though. Of course I never get to use them because I can run faster than they fly but still.” When the song ended Wally gave Artemis a look as he took Roy to the side and Artemis and Jade hung back so they boys could have their little chat.

“What's up Walman?”

“I've been trying to find Dick.”

“Why?”

“To tell him I'm sorry for blaming him for everything. I wasn't there when he needed me even though if the situation had been reversed he would have stuck by me.”

“Thing is, the situation would never be reversed like that because you would never lie like that. But I'm glad you forgave him.”

“I was wondering if maybe you've heard anything about him or Huntress?”

Roy shook his head “Since they left Blüdhaven I haven't heard a thing. But if you're looking for him, I'll help. I know I don't always show it but I do miss the three of us being best friends.”

“We're still best friends.”

“Are we? Wally we haven't spoken in two years - besides Barry's funeral. Dick's been hasn't been around either of us for just as long; you've spent a large majority of that time hating him and I've been avoiding all of you and Dick has been hiding with the Suicide Squad or Huntress or where ever the hell he is now. We may have been best friends once upon a times, brothers even, but that's exactly it, once upon a time. We haven't been best friends in years.”

Wally looked at the floor and stuffed his hands in his pocket “We could fix that. You and me can fix our friendship and we can find Dick and we can all go back to being best friends again, like when we were kids.”

_But he's just one_  
Of many that you might call home  
And maybe someday, the bitter will fade from your bones  
Fade from your bones... 

“We're not kids any more Wally. You're the Flash, I'm not even an actual hero anymore and I haven't told anyone this but... Jade is pregnant.”

“What! Oh my God Roy that's fantastic! Congratulations!”

Roy smiled at him “Thanks.”

“Look, just because we've grown up doesn't mean we can't get back what we had.”

Roy shook his head “I'd love to just go back to how it was but I can't. Everything's different now. I'll still help you look for him though.”

Wally sighed, conceding the point for now in favour of searching for his missing friend “Bruce said Barbara may have a lead. Want to go check it out?”

“Yeah okay.” 

The two gingers walked from the Ball Room to the Great Hall with determination and a mission and they found Barbara easily seeing as she was sitting with Zatanna, Tim and Bart and had even been joined by “Kori Anders?” Wally mumbled in confusion.

Roy looked over at Wally “Starfire's here? Wow I didn't think she'd come.”

“Yeah... what's she doing here?” Wally asked hoping to get some clues as to who she was in this timeline from Roy's response.

“I don't know. I mean Starfire's been running around with Red Hood recently, I actually spent some time with them as well, Red Hood can drink me under the table. I didn't think Bruce would let her in here since she's running with a known killer who he hates AKA his dead son.”

“Yeah. That's very unlike Bruce.” Wally thought back to the file on Jason Todd he'd read whilst researching Dick and Bruce. Jason had been killed by The Joker years ago but apparently he was alive now? And him and Kori of all people were a team? This timeline was crazy. Before he had time to ask any more questions they'd reached the table and the group of group of 5 were staring up at them from their seats. “Um Babs, can we talk to you really quickly?”

“Sure,” she stood up, grabbed her champagne flute and walked to a more private location in the Manor (which there were a lot of) “So what's up?”

Wally took the lead “Bruce said you saw Dick in Japan?”

Barbara sighed “Yeah. Him and his new friend, Raptor, were looking for someone and I stumbled across them. Dick let me tag along- or more accurately I forced myself into the mission and Dick tolerated me.”

“So what do you know about him? What's he doing? What happened to Huntress?”

“From what I can tell... the agency he works for placed him undercover in the Parliament of Owls.”

Roy frowned “Parliament? I thought they were the Court.”

Barbara quirked her eyebrow “The Courts are regional, the Parliament is international.”

“So this Raptor guy, he works for the Owls?” Wally frowned “That seems dangerous.”

“According to Dick, Raptor's also there to take down the Owls. _'He's a good guy'_ I wasn't convinced.”

“I assumed Bats knows all this?” Roy asked.

“Of course.” Barbara nodded “He's always the first one to find out. We're digging in to the Parliament now, hoping to find information about him through them but they're equally as secret as Spyral.”

“Spyral?”

“Oh yeah, spelt with a Y because they're punny. It's the agency he works for. You know, the agency of spies.”

Roy let out a puff of laughter “So they've got jokes huh.”

“Unfortunately they're no joke. They leave no trace, no paper trail, no clues. If it weren't for Dick I wouldn't even know they existed.”

Wally sighed “So how are we supposed to find Dick?”

“Don't count me out just yet. They're good but so am I. And I'm not giving up on him.” Barbara assured them “Now can we get back to this party?”

“This kind of boring party?” Roy asked.

“Do it for the kids.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me trying to figure out who exactly is at this party so I can make random but realistic run ins happen and then not following through with that so I just have a long list of names that I didn't even use.
> 
> People in **bold** are the people I never even mentioned but just remember these people are at the party.
> 
> Diana Prince – Wonder Woman  
> Steve Trevor  
> Lois Lane  
> Clark Kent - Superman  
> Kara Danvers - Supergirl  
> Iris West-Allen  
> Wally West - Flash  
> Bart Allen – Kid Flash  
> Artemis Crock – Tigress  
> Roy Harper (clone) – Red Arrow  
> Jade N - Cheshire  
> Oliver Queen – Green Arrow  
> Dinah Lance – Black Canary  
> Barbara Gordon - Batgirl  
> James Gordon  
> Bruce Wayne - Batman  
> Silena Kyle - Catwoman  
>  **Mari McCabe – Vixen, a model**  
>  **Felicity Smoak - tech billionaire**  
>  **Curtis Holt - Olympian athlete + genius with Smoak tech**  
>  **Paul Holt – Curtis husband**  
>  **Lex Luthor – bald guy**  
>  **Mercy Graves – Luthor body guard**  
>  Ray Palmer – Atom, tech billionaire  
>  **Vicki Vale**  
>  Tim Drake – Red Robin  
>  **Tam Fox**  
>  **Luscious Fox - CEO**  
>  Damian Wayne - Robin  
> Zatanna Zatarra - famous magician  
>  **Silver Saintcloud**  
>  http://adamwest.tripod.com/people.htm (People of Gotham City):  
> Mayor Linseed  
>  **Minerva Matthews - rich lady, likes art**  
>  **Miranda Fleece – philanthropist**  
>  **Basil Bowman – Bruce's billionaire friend**
> 
>  **Gotham's Oldest Families:**  
>  **The Dumahs**  
>  **Thomas Elliot – Owns Gotham Gazette + Elliot Pharmaceuticals**  
>  **The Crownes**  
>  **Kathy Kane**  
>  (Cobblepotts aren't invited + Waynes are already there)


	12. 11) Unexpected Gatecrasher

****

**Chapter 11:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Wayne Manor, Gotham**  
DATE: 26/07/2018 (DAY/MONTH/YEAR) 

 

Everyone had vacated the Ball Room and taken their seats in the Great Hall where all the tables had been set up. Bruce had turned the huge ornate stairs into a kind of stage with a podium and a microphone and everything. “Hello everyone. I'd like to thank you for attending The Annual Wayne Family Summer Charity Gala!” He raised his drink and everyone followed suit, “Now that long name has many parts to it so we'll break it down. Annual, I don't need to explain that, I won't patronise you but Wayne Family: as in this isn’t just my Gala, or even just the gala of my sons Tim and Damian,” the two boy's waved as people looked their way “This gala has been going on for generations. My father threw this event and my father's father threw this event and his father before him and I am proud to carry on this proud Wayne tradition. The next part, Summer, again doesn't really matter but Charity that's important. Gotham has never been perfect, we've always had more than our fair share of misfortune from the huge fires in the early days to the Joker attack just two weeks ago and no one suffers more than the economically challenged. Every year The Martha Wayne Foundation gives the proceedings of this event to a different charity every year and this year your money will be going to the Gotham Orphanages. There are a lot of Orphanages in Gotham, too many really, but there are a lot of dead parents in Gotham, no one knows that better than me. But I was lucky, I was privileged and I had the means and Alfred to take of me when I was a child, not everyone in Gotham is so lucky. Here to talk to you today is Sally Syle from the St Agnes Orphanage in Downtown Gotham.” he stepped aside as a small blond girl with bright blue eyes took centre stage.

“My name is Sally Syle and I'm 10 years old. My mummy and daddy died when I was 8 and I really miss them but Jennifer who works at the orphanage helps me when I'm sad about them and she helps me with my homework and she gives me hugs to cheer me up. But she might get fired because the orphanage can't afford to keep all the staff on and buy everyone books and meals everyday and pay all the bills and I really don't want her to go. If Jennifer were fired it would be like losing another parent all over again and I can't lose anyone else-” she broke down in tears and someone, Jennifer as it turned out, rushed on stage to envelope her in a hug. The crowd ate it up, 'aaawing' in sympathy and getting out their cheque books to write the largest cheque they could possibly cash in.

That was when the cheque book dance started, everyone was looking at each other's numbers trying not to be outdone adding numbers every time they saw a competitor or rival giving more.

Silena Kyle took her place as Bruce's arm candy “Does that girl know you're exploiting her sad story and her cuteness?”

“Oh she knows, I told her point blank. When I did she even said she'd fake cry if it helped.”

“Fake cr- you bastard.” Silena shook her head with a small smile.

“Hey! It was her idea, not mind.” Their conversation ended when the benefactors started pouring in all with kind words, fake smiles and large cheques.

Half way through the money line Iris West-Allen popped up “Mr Wayne” she held out a hand to shake “Iris West, Central City Picture News.”

“Please call me Bruce.” he gave her an easy, almost flirty smile and Silena hit him softly on the shoulder with fake annoyance, playing into the common perception of the playboy billionaire with the wondering eyes. He dropped his smile for a more profession one and shook her hand. “Do you want a quote?”

“If you would.” She confirmed, holding up her tape recorder to indicate she would be recording him.

He spoke clearly into the recorder. "To some this may just seem like an excuse for the rich to get together and feel good about themselves but no one can deny that the money raised here tonight will help children all over Gotham. And you know it's not just the rich who can donate, anyone can donate to any of the causes the Martha Wayne Foundation has supported in the past on MarthaWayneFoundation.org." 

“Thank you, Bruce. Um... could I also ask if I could speak to Sally Syle? If she's up for it?”

He looked around for the young girl and saw her and Jennifer sitting on the bottom steps He called over to her carer “Jennifer!” She looked up and Bruce pointed at Iris and then at her press pass and then at Sally. Jennifer seemed to understand because she asked Sally a question which was answered in the affirmative and then ushered Iris over.

Iris was shocked at how easy that was and thanked Bruce for his time before going over to the 10 year old and asking her some more questions. She would have to thank Bruce again later for getting her into this because she had so many stories already, she'd have to write them quick though to get them in by the morning's edition.

And because this was Gotham City and all the most rich and famous people in Gotham had gathered into one place, something came crashing in through the window.

Half the people screamed and made a dash in the opposite direction expecting the Joker or the Penguin upset they weren't invited, the other half put their hands up expecting armed gun men and a lot of the ladies had already taken off their jewellery and were holding them out as if expecting a robbery. Iris had thrown her body protectively in front of Sally and she was glad Jennifer had done the same thing, they had both been expecting weapons pointed their way.

Thankfully it wasn't what anyone was expecting. Instead of one of Gotham's Rogues or a gang or any of the usual suspects it was a beaten up and battered red and grey robot thing. It had wires loose and seemed to be half broken and it was singed and charred along the edges, as if it had burned up upon re-entry. Iris immediately had her phone out, taking photos and putting all those other stories she'd had to the back of her mind as she started mentally writing this new one that had literally crashed through the roof. “You guys okay?”

Sally nodded, terrified as she hid behind Jennifer. Jennifer nodded as well a little shocked by the turn of event.

Commissioner Gordon was up front ushering people away from the robot in seconds, and his daughter helped him as he got distracted calling for back up. She saw Bruce and Clark slip in their ear pieces and start talking about whatever was going on. A few moments later Wonder Woman followed suit jumping in mid conversation and heading to the front line as well. As the only Leaguer with no secret identity she could actually do something right now.

Wonder Woman observed the robot closely and knelt down besides it, inspecting it and then suddenly it sprung to life, grabbing her around the throat. She yelped in shock and immediately was floating in the air and judo flipped the bot into the ground, detaching it's hand from her neck.

She pulled out a phone looking device “Green Lantern, I need you at Wayne Manor in Gotham now. No Penguin didn't attack, if Penguin attacked I wouldn't need you here.”

Bruce ushered everyone into the other room but directed the press who were actually superheroes, press who were in love with super heroes and the other super heroes into a different room so no one would see them.

After the hall had been cleared out Clark, Lois, Iris, Wally, Bart, Kara, Tim, Bruce, Damian, Silena, Roy, Jade, Artemis, Oliver, Dinah, Mari, Barbara, Ray Palmer and Zatanna remained, just in time for Hal to come through the new hole in the window “Hey Bruce there's a hole in your-” his eyes fell onto the bot lying discard and broken on the ground and he froze mid air “Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no! We're screwed! We're all screwed this is bad. This is so incredibly bad I need to call this in immediately.” he landed next the the robot and used his ring as a communicator to all the lanterns “Calling all Lanterns.”

A display came up with all the Lanterns, most of the screens were very tiny but there a few that were bigger like Kilowags and The Guardians of the Universe. “I have just discovered the broken body of a Manhunter on Earth and I have no idea how it got here. Did anyone know the Manhunters were on the move?”

Everyone answered in the negative “Are you sure it's a Manhunter?” Guy Gardner asked.

“Am I sure it's a- Am I sure it's a Manhunter?! Yes I'm fucking sure it's a Manhunter!” He pointed the 'camera' at the Manhunter “Look at this! I fought the Manhunters before any of you did so don't question me about this right now! I lost friends.”

“Some might say the Manhunter's are your fault. Since you went and made Aya sentient and all.” Some alien grumbled.

Hal sucked in his cheek but didn't reply “Look can every one just scan their sectors for Manhunters?” 

“I got nothing.”

After everyone had confirmed there were no Manhunter bot in their area Hal sighed and said he'd deal with this one by himself then since it was his Sector's problem.

Wonder Woman waited until he hung up before she asked “What is that?”

“You remember a while ago you, me, Superman and Flash were in the canteen having some small talk and I mentioned that army of man killing robots that were roaming free around the galaxy led by my ex-friend and now sentient AI?”

“Yes...” She replied, not liking where this sentence was going.

“And remember how I said not to worry because the Lanterns got this and they can't move without someone detecting it?”

She sighed heavily having already gotten the clue “Yes...”

“Well this is that robot and we should worry because it got here undetected.”

“I'm sorry... a robot army?” Iris asked.

“They were created by the Guardians of the Universe, my bosses, millions of years ago but they couldn't understand emotions or whatever so they turned against emotional beings which is everyone obviously and the Green Lanterns were then formed to stop them. It was... they destroyed a lot of places, killed a lot of beings. There's a whole sector of dead space that's still desolate even after all these years called the Forgotten Zone. If Manhunters get to Earth we're sitting ducks.”

Superman frowned “We have the whole might of the League.”

“Only a Lantern can fully defeat a Manhunter. The Guardians made us both so we're like intrinsically linked. Even you couldn't defeat a Manhunter. The League can hold them off but until the Lantern Corps Fleet got here we're as good as dead.”

A sombre silence settled over the group until Batman spoke “Our duty, our entire existence is defined upon not allowing that to happen. So we can't allow that to happen.”

_stumbling lost_  
The last choice of all that you meet  
It's the cost  
Of ruling those 'neath your feet 

## Central City Picture News

****

## Android Gatecrasher At Annual Wayne Gala

****

**by Iris West-Allen**

Bruce Wayne's Annual Wayne Family Summer Charity Gala was disrupted by an unexpected guest, a robot.

Large profile events in Gotham High Society are always be interrupted, so much so that a lot of the woman had already taken off their jewellery before they even saw a criminal, but I don't think anyone was expecting what they got. Rather than one of Gotham's many colourful criminal characters or a masked gang looking for an easy score, a robot came crashing though the sky light of the Wayne Manor's Great Hall.

Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, the worst injury being minor cuts from the falling glass. Although everyone was quite shocked, especially when the broken and battered robot that everyone had assumed was dead, attacked Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) who was in attendance.

Whilst it seems more interesting to get caught up in the excitement of the evening, it's more important to remember why everyone was there in the first place.

The Wayne Gala raises money every year that The Martha Wayne Foundation donates to a different cause annually. This year The Foundation is giving to Gotham's Orphanages so they can raise these traumatised children in the best possible environment. Sally Syles (10) from St Agnes Orphanage in Down Town Gotham gave an impassioned plea to the benefactors and they responded raising just over $12 million.

It doesn't have to stop at $12 million nor does it only have to be for this years cause. Bruce Wayne says "To some this may just seem like an excuse for the rich to get together and feel good about themselves but no one can deny that the money raised here tonight will help children all over Gotham. And you know it's not just the rich who can donate, anyone can donate to any of the causes the Martha Wayne Foundation has supported in the past on MarthaWayneFoundation.org."

It doesn't have to be a huge amount, unfortunately we're not all millionaires but we can make a difference and we can help people, even if it's just $1.


	13. 12) Life In Sector 0000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why I did this to myself. I don't know American laws, I'm not American and I didn't bother to search them up so I don't know why I added a small scene in which Hal and Guy explain American laws to aliens but I did so I apologise it it's completely wrong.

****

Chapter 12:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline

**LOCATION: Green Lantern Headquarters, Space**  
DATE: 00/00/0000 404 ERROR - DIFFERENT CALENDAR USED

Hal had bought the remains of the Manhunter to the Guardians at their behest. Salaak was at his side studying the Manhunter with the help of Tomar-Reh.

“I don't understand how it got so close without anyone noticing. I mean it got all the way to Sector 2815!”

The Guardians nodded in agreement “It is very worrying that they got so close but until we have more information there is nothing we can do. We will increase the patrol guards in the outer solar systems and I will get in contact with the Blue Lanterns for back up.”

Hal sighed “When you say 'nothing we can do' you mean I need to leave it alone?”

“You're finally starting to understand.”

“I'll leave it for now but if I see another Manhunter in my sector I'm going to do something about it.”

“As is your duty.”

“So we're on the same page?”

“For once it seems we are. The Manhunters a huge threat Green Lantern of Sector 2815. We should treat them as such.”

Hal gave a small bow as was tradition and left the Manhunter in the care of Salaak, the Chief Scientist of the Corps and then started his long flight home. He was stopped by Arisia Rrab, a young blonde girl from Graxos IV, she was hot but she was only 19 so Hal considered her off limits. “Arisia.” He greeted her with a smile, his signature side smile that made the ladies swoon.

It seemed to work because Arisia blushed and looked down at her feet “Hi Hal.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Um... Kilowag was telling some of the Cadets about the adventures you guys went on.”

“Really? I hope he didn't down grade my part in everything.”

“He told us about when Sinestro turned and how you were the only one to figure it out and then the Guardians banished you from the corps and then you hate to fight a Lantern without a ring.”

“Oh yeah, that was difficult to say the least.”

“You're really brave for doing all that.” She said, looking up at him like he was the sun.

“Thank you! But it's what any Lantern would do.”

“I don't know if I would do that.”

“Trust me, I didn't think I would either, especially since I thought all the Lanterns were jerks anyways, but we get chosen for a reason. The rings know that if push comes to shove we'd do anything.”

“What about Sinestro and his deserters?”

“The thing about Sinestro is he thought he was doing the right thing, in a way the rings weren't wrong about them. He had conviction and will power. It's odd, when I joined he was my mentor.”

“Maybe you would be mine?” She asked, using her arms to push her breasts together.

Hal's eyes lingered a little too long on her chest before he dragged them back up to her eyes “Um...” _'She's 19, she's 19, she's 19'_ he repeated in his head “Kilowag is a really good teacher, you'd probably be better off with him.”

“Please Hal? I'd still train with Kilowag but I feel like I'd benefit a lot from some time with you.” She gave him a sexy look through her lashes and bit her lip.

Why did a 19 year old know how to be so seductive? Hal was 34, he couldn't be with a 19 year old, even Nightwing was older than 19, it would be weird. “Um Arisia, I'm very flattered but I really don't think that's the best idea.” _'It would be legal in America'_ he thought as she flew up a bit and bent over slightly so he'd have a direct view down her shirt.

“Are you sure?” She asked in a sultry tone.

Hal gulped once and nodded “I'm sure.” She looked a bit crest fallen but she smiled at him and said goodbye. Hal heaved a sigh of relief, that was like escaping a Siren or a Star Sapphire or something. He turned around to see Guy Gardener smirking at him.

“What's up pedo?”

“She's 19! It would be legal!”

Guy laughed “Yeah yeah, I know, I'm just messing with'ya. Respect to you man I don't know I could resist all that.” He traced her figure as she flew away “Mmmm. She's hot.”

Hal sighed “Yeah she is.”

“What was that?” Jade, a green skinned Bismollean, flew into their conversation “Don't tell me you took advantage of that poor girl?”

“Girl?” Hal exclaimed “She's an adult and also she was taking advantage of _me_.”

Jade gave him a weird look “She's from Garxos IV, 19 years old is the equivalent of a Earthling of 16.”

“WHAT!” Guy and Hal exclaimed at the same time. And then Hal started stumbling over his words trying to explain that he definitely hadn't slept with her or taken advantage of her.

Jade laughed “You're lucky you didn't, I don't think Starkadr would be too happy with you if you did.”

“Starkadr?” Hal asked.

“I believe he is what you would call... Human Resources?”

Hal frowned “We have a Human Resources?”

“Well Hal not all guys can be as good as you, take Guy for exampled.” She joked. “Like he said, he wouldn't have hesitated.”

Guy pulled a face “Okay, I like girls and all but I'm not about to catch a case.”

“What?” Jade asked, confused.

Hal laughed “Catch a case means basically means doing something that might end up with you arrested and in a court case.”

“Uh. I understand. So dating someone younger is illegal on Earth?”

“In America yeah, if they're under 18 usually, in some states it's 17 but I don't date younger than 25 on principle.” Hal said.

Jade nodded “Earth is quite fascinating. I don't know why the Lanterns ignored it for so long.”

Guy laughed “Humans have only in the past couple decades become cool. I'll admit we used to be pretty sucky.”

Hal turned to Guy “I was about to head back to Earth right now, are you coming too?”

“I'd love to, I'm missing the Football World Cup but I have Honour Guard duty right now. I'm patrolling the outer rim thanks to the Manhunter that crashed Wayne's party.”

“I can tape the game for you if you want and send it to you.”

“Would you? I'd owe you my entire life.”

Jade laughed “Humans and their sports, I will never understand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may seem like a really random and odd chapter but trust me, it serves a purpose.
> 
> I took some liberties with some characters. For example I changed basically everything about Jade except her appearance and name.  
> Arisia is 19 in the comics but she aged herself up so she could date Hal and then they broke up so she went to work at Guy's bar.  
> Kilowag trains the cadets in Green Lantern TAS which is where most of my Lantern knowledge comes from even though I did watch the other animated movies ( haven't watched the Ryan Reynolds one).


	14. 13) Prodigal Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick Grayson returns.  
> He's a perceptive dude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS The title 'Prodigal Son' is a nod to The Parable of the Prodigal Son AKA The Parable of The Lost Son from The Bible which is about a son who leaves his family spends all the money he has but then returns and is forgiven by his father.  
> The meaning obviously being that we're the son and the father is God and he'll always welcome us back.
> 
> Although the son has a brother who was loyal and hard working and I have to agree with him when he said "Why does he get a cool feast for returning when I've been here the whole time and got Jack shit" or something along those lines.

****

**Chapter 13:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

 **LOCATION: The Batcave, somewhere under Gotham  
DATE: 30/07/2018** (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

RECOGNISED NIGHTWING B01  
RECOGNISED HUNTRESS A21

The Zeta beam in the Batcave announced the Arrival of two people who had been off the grid for months on end.

Damian, who had been training with his sword dropped it in shock and then rushed over to his big brother in excitement “Grayson!”

“Hey Little D.” He said opening his arms for a hug, instead all he go was a punch to the stomach. “Ooof!”

“WHERE WERE YOU?!” Damian yelled angrily “We didn't know where you were and all we knew was that some shady Raptor guy was hanging out with you!”

“Were you worried?” Dick asked, with a small smile.

He huffed and crossed his arms, turning away like a child (because he was a child) “Tim was worried, I didn't care at all.”

Dick's smiled broadened “Okay, if you say so.”

As if summoned by his name Tim came running out of the Bat-evator “Dick's here?” He looked at Huntress and Nightwing only they weren't dressed like Huntress and Nightwing.

Dick Grayson had abandoned his skin tight spandex and kevlar suit in favour of all black tactical gear, an armoured shirt (that was still pretty tight). He'd traded in his escrima sticks for two holstered guns on his side and he wasn't wearing a mask.

Helena Bertinelli had also undergone a makeover, no longer was she Huntress but instead Matron Agent of Spyral. She'd replaced the purple and white archers gear with a similar style clothing to Grayson's only her top had two purple stripes on the arms and her trousers were a dark green instead of the black that Dick's were.

“Sup Short Stuff.” She said to Damian.

Tim winced as he watched Damian gear up to scream at her but the sound of the elevator working stopped him “That will be father.”

Tim grabbed one of Damain's many blades and dashed forward. Helena tensed but Dick didn't so she didn't move, following his lead. Tim cut through his holster tore it off and shoved the two guns into a cupboard just as the doors opened and Bruce Wayne stepped out.

“Dick. I've been... I've been worried about you.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Spyral requires absolute secrecy.”

“So why are you here now?” Bruce asked. His eyes grazed over Helena but he didn't spare her much attention.

She spoke anyway “Dick and Raptor took down the main branch of the Parliament of Owls as was Dick's mission. Then our boss over at Spyral, Minos, betrayed the organisation so after we took care of that we figured it was time to cut and run.”

“I've heard about this Raptor. I've heard he's not a good guy.”

“Yeah he was undercover in the Parliament with the Fist of Cain but we had the same goals for a while and he was my only real ally on the inside so we teamed up.”

“And you Huntress?”

“I haven't been called Huntress in ages, usually it's just Matron now.”

“Still better than Agent 37.” Dick laughed.

“Agent 37 sounds cool though, I sound like a German mother or something.”

Bruce scowled at the two “Didn't answer my question.”

“Right,” Helena smiled sarcastically at him “Sorry 'bout that. I trained Spyral agents, hence the name Matron, I worked closely with Minos so when things started to get a little shady I called the one person I could trust, Agent 37 over here.”

“And what did you do with Minos?” Bruce asked.

Helena took great pleasure in saying the next words out of her mouth “Killed him.”

Bruce's face was stoney and he sent Dick a look that screamed 'we will have words', Dick was glad Tim had had the forethought to hide his guns, he doubted Bruce would appreciate them. Rather then the long lecture Dick was expecting for later Bruce growled out “Wally's been looking for you.”

Dick's demeanour changed at the mention of his ex-best friend Wally West. “He... has...?” He asked unsurely.

“He wants to say sorry. Roy, Barbara and him have been looking for you all month.”

“Really?” Dick asked hopefully.

Tim nodded “Yeah, he's at Mount Justice right now.”

“You rebuilt Mount Justice?” Dick asked. It had been destroyed in a ploy to show The Light that Aqualad was loyal to them in a turn of events orchestrated by Nightwing.

Tim nodded “We upgraded it big time. It's pretty cool now, much more light then there used to be.” he pushed the two of them towards the zeta, trying to avoid the anger oozing from Batman right now.

RECOGNISED NIGHTWING B01  
RECOGONISED HUNTRESS A21  
RECOGNISED RED ROBIN B20

The entire team had gathered around the Zeta on the other side when they heard Nightwing would be there. Megan, Artemis and Wally all looked happy he was there, as did Batgirl and Black Canary. Some of the younger ones didn't look as happy.

“Dick!” Wally exclaimed throwing his arms around the guy he had known since he'd been a young teen.

Dick hugged him back “Hey Walman.”

“You're back! Roy is going to be so happy! You know we've been looking for you, no one knew where you were. You kept under the radars man, what are you doing back? Are you back for good?”

Dick glanced at Huntress and she nodded “Yeah, we're back for good. I think me and Huntress are going to head back to Blüdhaven.”

“So your not joining one of the teams?” Batgirl asked.

Some of the younger Team members scoffed.

Dick's jaw tightened “Yeah no, I don't think so.”

“Hey Dick, I'm sorry I blamed you for Uncle Barry. That wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known and Barry would have done it even if he knew he would cease if it meant saving the world. And you know, I signed up to your plan, Artemis signed up, Kuldar signed up. It wasn't fair of me to pin everything on you, we all played our parts in what happened.”

“It's fine, I get it. It was my plan and people got hurt because of it.”

“But your plan worked. We brought down The Light.”

But at what cost.

_It's the cost  
Of ruling those 'neath your feet_

That was the question Wally had been asking himself since the moment his mother had died. He could save his mum, but at what cost? His uncle's life, his friend's happiness? Dick must have been asking himself the same question all these months. They saved the world but at what cost? What did Dick give up during his time with Spyral, during his time with the Parliament of Owls?

Wally was derailed form his train of thought but an arrow head at his jugular “Wha!” he squawked having not expected the attack at all.

Immediately The younger members of the team had their weapons and powers trained on Nightwing.

Helena defended her team mate grabbing her crossbow from God knows where and aiming it at people around the room.

Megan stood there in shock not aiming at anyone Batgirl too a side, she stood in front of Nightwing, in front of everyone's weapons with her batarangs drawn ready to throw.

Red Robin looked between the two sides and then he did something no one had expected since he had been defending Dick even as everyone bad mouthed him at Mt Justice, he sided against Nightwing. Batgirl sent him a look but he shrugged, this situation wasn't looking good for Dick.

Helena sighed “What are you doing partner, isn't that the lovable ginger you're always going on about?” She asked, confused bust still on his side.

“I don't know, is it?” Dick asked Wally.

Artemis scowled “Dick you're not making any sense! Let him go and I won't drive a claw through your eyes for hurting my fiancée.”

“You're not Wally West.” Grayson scowled, using the Batman voice “So tell me who you really are?”

“I am Wally West!”

 

_Paths you've crossed,  
and trust you're trying to keep_

“Try again, I'm not buying it.”

Wally huffed “Okay, okay look. You got me.”

Bart frowned “What?”

“Look.” Wally continued “I am Wally West... just not of this timeline.”

Dick let him go and the speedster stumbled forward. “Talk.” Dick commanded.

“I went back and changed the time line and then I ended up here, in this different timeline and I've been trying to make everything better.”

Dick's eyes dulled “So that's why you forgave me. Because you never even experienced everything I did.”

“I'm sure I would have forgiven you eventually! You're my best friend Dick!”

“No, I'm not. I was best friends with the Wally West of this time line, you are not him.”

“I can _be_ him! I'm becoming him!”

“What happened that was so catastrophic that you changed the course of history? Did the world end? Did the Light win? Did The Reach take over the earth?”

“No... nothing like that...”

“So what happened huh?!” Dick yelled, throwing up his hands in anger.

“My mum died.”

“Your mum died? You mum died and you changed everything about this universe to bring her back? MY PARENTS WERE MURDERED! And you don't see me turning back time to bring them back! Beast Boy's parents are dead, Roy's parent's are dead, Zatanna's parents are dead but we cope with it because that's what you do! You don't screw up everyone else’s life just to fix your own fucked up life!”

“She's my mum! What was I supposed to do!?”

“I just told you what you were supposed to do! Bury her, grieve, cry me a river, build a bridge and then get over it! Your mum is a nice lady but she's not more important than my brother, or my mum or Bruce's mum or Superman's entire planet! You know Kal and Kara could reverse time and save Krypton but they don't because time is not to be messed with!”

Artemis lowered her weapons “How did you figure out it wasn't our Wally?” She asked, wondering how she hadn't seen it before. All the extra questions, all the exclamations when he found out things he should have already known, all the odd memory problems.

Dick looked down “Because the Wally of this timeline wouldn't have forgiven me.” He turned around “I'm going back to Blüdhaven.”

RECOGNISED NIGHTWING B01

Huntress sent a look Tim's way “Some brother you are.”

“He attacked Wally! What was I supposed to think!?” Tim defended himself.

“You're supposed to think 'I trust my big brother and I'm sure he has his reasons' That's what you're supposed to think.” She sent Batgirl a nod of respect for being loyal and then left as well.

RECOGNISED HUNTRESS A21

Artemis looked at Wally “When?”

“The 30th June.”

“The 30th of J... The day you visited your mother unexpectedly. Of course. So you and Dick and Roy and all BFFs in the other timeline, what am I to you in the other timeline, the real one?”

Wally looked at her “You're Roy's girlfriend's sister to me. I didn't really know you.”

“You didn't know me?!”

_La ragione ho vissuto (the reason I live)  
non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)_

“I do now!”

“What's my favourite colour?”

“Green?”

“Purple. What's my favourite food.”

“Spag bol?”

“Pies. What's my mum's name?”

“I know this one! It's Paula!”

“How many people have I killed in the name of my father?”

“You've killed?”

“Ah! She screamed “You don't know me at all! I've told you all this, I told _him_ all this I confided in him and now he's what? Gone? Is the Wally I know gone?”

“No, he's not. I'm right here.”

“You're not the same!”

“You didn't notice!”

“Oh my God. You're right. I didn't notice. Nightwing hasn't seen you in months and he realised. I was with you the day before you changed and the day after and I've been with you every day since and I never even thought something was odd.” Her eyes welled with tears.

“Artemis-” Wally went to envelope her in a hug the way she had done to him that morning in the grave yard.

She pushed him off “No. I can't. You're not him.” She fled the room.

RECOGNISED ARTEMIS B07

Bart stepped forward “So what am I like in your time line?”

Wally sighed “You don't exist.” He pointed at everyone “A lot of you don't, at least not as heroes. Barbara, you're in a wheel chair and you're a hacker for the CIA. Tim you're the CEO of Wayne Industries, there's no Batman. Starfire is a model and is Dick's girlfriend. I don't know any of you guys.” He pointed at all the younger members including Beast Boy, Lagoon Boy, Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle. “Rocket yo were on my team.”

Tim frowned “If there was no Batman who was in the League?”

“Canary. Black Canary was basically the Batman of our universe, honestly when I got here it felt like she'd been robbed.”

Dinah scoffed “I'm Batman?”

“Well you're still Black Canary you're just the 2nd member of the League next to Superman and you have the best skills and everything. You're still dating Oliver though.”

Megan raised her hand nervously “Um Wally, I thought one of the consequences of time travel was that a different thing of equal magnitude happened to try and right the timeline.”

“It did. I saved my mum but now my Uncle's dead.”

“Wait!” Bart exclaimed “It's because of you that Barry died?! And you didn't try and fix everything the moment you found out?!”

“I came here for my mum, I wasn't about to leave her!”

“And what about me huh!? Barry was the only real father I ever knew and now he's dead.” he couldn't help the tears that fell from his eyes. “Does Iris know about this?”

“No! You can't tell her!”

“Why fucking not!” Bart screamed.

“She'll want me to change everything back!”

“You should change everything back! All of this is fake!”

“No, it all really happened, nothing in this time line is fake!”

“Apart from you! You weren't there when Iris would cry every day! When she would wake up forgetting he was dead and then break down at the breakfast table, you weren't there at his funeral, you didn't see the way Hal was crying, that was his best friend you killed.”

“The Light killed him!”

“But it was your fault! Everything that's happened in this timeline is your fault! If there's no Blue Beetle and there's no Reach then the Earth doesn't get destroyed in the future and my life doesn't get ruined! My father doesn't get killed and I don't have to come back to this time and try and fix everything!”

“You're time travelling as well! How is what we're doing any different?”

“”I'm trying to save the world! I'm 16 years old and I literally have the weight of the world on my shoulders, because of you! You just didn't know how to handle your mother dying. I understand that loss! I lost everyone I ever loved, including Barry, because of you.”

“But some things are better here! Bruce is alive here, Batgirl's not in a wheelchair, I never had to lie to Dick about my identity, I have (had?) a fiancée, there's more heroes here.”

Bart shook his head “You're trying to justify this but it's not justifiable. There's more heroes because there's more villains. You need to go back and fix this.”

_stumbling lost  
The last choice of all that you meet_

“I can't!”

“Why not!”

“If I correct the time line then my mum spends every waking minute terrified of my dad because Rudy West is not a nice man and then she dies afraid and I never called her that week and I never told her I loved her.”

Bart walked towards the zeta “I sympathise, I really do, but it's not an excuse.”

RECOGNISED KID FLASH B23


	15. 14) Dear...

****

**Chapter 14:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

 **LOCATION: The Batcave, somewhere under Gotham  
DATE: 01/08/2019 **(DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

“It's irresponsible and stupid and dangerous and you could have damned us all!” Batman yelled at Wally.

“How could I have damned everyone? The thing I was trying to avoid was my mother's death and the time line already took my uncle. The balance is restored.”

“I have some experience with The Flashpoint Paradox-”

“The what?”

“You go back to change one thing but that ripples through history and changes things that happened in the past. It's makes no logical sense, hence the Paradox. Barry named it.”

“Uncle Barry did this as well?”

“Yes, he went back to save his own mum but he changed everything. Wonder Woman and Aquaman were at war, Superman had been locked up by the government, I was dead my father was Batman and my mother was Joker. You didn't exist. Captain Marvel was 5 kids instead of 1 and they all died horribly. The world almost ended and do you know how Barry fixed it?”

“How?”

“He changed everything back. He let Zoom kill his mum all over again and everything went back to how it should have been.”

“But we're fine. There's no world ending event, there's not war. We're fine.”

“For now.” Batman sighed.

_You're in ten feet deep_  
But we've survived  
More terrible monster than sleep 

He scrawled down a note, put it in an envolope and handed it to Wally “Put this in your costume somewhere it won't get lost and don't take it out.”

“Why?”

“Just... just please do it.”

It was rare that Batman sounded unsure or nervous so Wally followed the order, stashing the note in the inner arm pocket usually reserved for emergency energy bars.


	16. 15) No Man Escapes The Manhunters

****

**Chapter 15:**

  
 **

EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline

**  
 **LOCATION: West-Allen House, Central City**  
 **DATE: 01/09/2019** (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

**TIME: 3:00 PM (15:00)**

As Martian Manhunter had predicted earlier Wally soon forgot about the whole time line thing and every conversation he'd had about it. What J'onn had forgotten to mention was that everybody else had forgotten too which meant when he went to track down Dick again which wasn't nearly as difficult seeing as he was just in Blüdhaven with Huntress Dick forgave him without hesitation. Artemis had forgotten what she had been so angry about as well.

In fact everyone from Bart to Batman was just left with a few moments of confusion from the following month and no idea what had happened really. They had no recollection of the big reveal, the only evidence was that stupid song that was stuck in Wally's head for some reason. He'd asked his mum about it, Soldatino, but she had laughed and asked why she would know a song in Italian. He even asked Megan to check his head for information about it because it was really bugging him but she was equally as confused (in reality she told him what actually happened, the both freaked out about changing timelines and then they both forgot).

Wally and Artemis had settled onto the sofa and were watching Neflix's Iron Fist and laughing at his stupidity “Why can he never just use his powers and show everyone he's not crazy!?” Wally asked.

“Why doesn't he just stop talking about Dragons? If he stopped mentioning the Dragons he'd probably be okay.”

“But he's the Immortal Iron Fist, sworn protector of K'un L'un, enemy of the Hand.”

“He plunged his fist into the molten heart of Shou-Lao the Undying.”

“Exactly, you can't plunge your fist into a dragons molten heart and _not_ bring it up.”

Artemis laughed “After this episode we need to get ready for the JL Press conference.”

“UUUuug. DO I have to go?”

“You're The Flash Wally, of course you have to go. Don't look so upset, I'll be right there with you.”

When the end credits rolled, Artemis clicked off of Netflix and turned the TV off and pulled Wally off the sofa, “Come on, you can get changed in seconds, why are you complaining?”

“The press conference. They're always so boring. And usually only the Trinity actually says anything.”

“We have to put on a united front, if we're not there people will worry.”

Wally sighed and flopped up the stairs “Fine.”

**TIME: 3:25 PM (15:25)**

The two changed into their super hero suits and kissed the twins and Iris goodbye before they left. They arrived in Washington DC and sat at their seats. 

Seat positions: Zatanna, 7. Martian Manhunter, 6. Aquaman| 2. Batman, 1. Superman, 3. Wonder Woman| 5. Green Lantern, 4. Flash, Tigress  
The numbers correspond to the numbers used in the YJ Zeta beam designations which are in the order in which a hero showed up for the battle before they were the Justice League.

**TIME: 4:00 PM (16:00)**

Superman started the conference by droning on about event that had happened that month that could only have been solved by superheroes. Then Batman droned on about the more normal crimes and the Wonder Woman and Zatanna talked about the magical crimes going on in the world and the things they should look out for. Aquaman spoke about how Atlantis was happy with the rate at which the world was cleaning up their oceans and they should continue in this manner. Martian Manhunter and Flash didn't really have anything to add, Tigress said her small piece on how to get in touch with them if they start to manifest powers and that if they do they don't have to become superheroes, but Canary and herself can help them control their powers.

**TIME: 4:45 PM (16:45)**

Green Lantern did not interject with any of his usual quips. He seemed lost in thought and was only startled out of thought when a ringing sound came from his ring. He answered it immediately. “#2815 reporting.”

“HAL!” Kilowag's yell came through the device.

“Kilowag!” he stood up “What's wrong? Where are you, I'll back you up.”

“There's no time!” There was an explosion on Kilowag's side of the line and Superman winced in his seat “Earth is in serious danger!”

“What?”

“The Manhunters- they're coming!”

“The Manhunters are coming! As in here? To Earth? Now?”

“They zetaed into all the sectors close to the centre and have been killing Green Lanterns left and right, half the fleet is already down.”

“Half?!”

“The only ones left are in the outer rim and they're not well trained Hal but the Manhunter's are heading straight for you and so are the remaining Lanterns.”

“Half?” He repeated in disbelief.

“The Cadets got out and they're in a ship heading for you as well.”

“Wait, Kilowag, you're near the centre.”

“What do you think that huge explosion was?” He laughed humourlessly.

He started hovering “I'm coming to you.”

“No Hal, Earth won't last a second without a Green Lantern there. They need you.”

“ _You_ need me.”

“I signed up for this kid, Earth didn't. It's okay, we always knew this was a possibility.”

Hal gaped at him and then he nodded “It's been an honour serving with you.”

“Oh come on, none of that Earth bullshit, say what you really mean.” there was another huge explosion.

“You're my best friend.”

“You're my best friend too kid, keep safe out there I'll see you when-” the ring cut off and Hal was left staring at static. The green around him flickered as his will power seemed to drain.

**TIME: 4:52 PM (16:52)**

“Oh my God.”

“Hal?” Flash asked, confused as to what exactly was going on.

“Oh. My. God.” he repeated more slowly.

“GL, what's happening?” Superman asked.

Hal turned to the rest of the League and sucked in a deep breath “There are these robots called Manhunters, they destroy anything with emotions. Only a Green Lantern can fully defeat them but all the Green Lanterns close to us just got wiped out. The Lanterns on the Outer Rim don't have as much training and they're further away but they're heading here now to back me up in defending this sector against the Manhunters.” His hand was shaking.

“Hal.” Wonder Woman said, placing a hand on his trembling one.

**TIME: 4:54 PM (16:54)**

“They have an army and I don't even have the other 3 Earth Lanterns with me. They killed Kilowag.” he breathed in deeply and then called Guy Gardener he picked up but all that was heard was yelling for a couple second.

“HAL WE'RE SCREWED! THEY AMBUSHED US! FORCEFIELDS EVERYONE!” He grunted in distress “Hal I think this is it, this is where I'm making my last stand.”

“Don't you dare, don't you dare die right now.”

“Hey, you proved me wrong. I always said you would be the first of us to die you reckless son of a bi-” his ring cut out too.

“Damn it!” Hal exclaimed. He turned to Batman “Batman you're always infringing on people's rights for their protection right?”

“What? What kind of question is that!?” Batman scowled.

“Do you have like an earth force field or something that might hold back the Manhunters till back up gets here?”

Batman licked his lips “This doesn't mean you're right in your assessment of me but I do have a secret force field powered by the Watch Tower that no one knows about.”

“Start it up!”

“I haven't tested it fully.”

“Doesn't matter, if you don't use it we're all dead anyways. No man escapes the Manhunters.”

Wonder Woman stood up, sword at the ready “Well it's lucky for you that I'm no m-”

“No Diana that's really not what I meant. Only a Lantern can defeat a Manhunter but if they get here and the shield doesn’t work you, Superman, Atom, Captain Atom, Shazam, everyone needs to be up there defending Earth. We're the first line of defence. Back ups not coming for a while.”

“How far away are they?” Flash asked.

**TIME: 5:01 PM (17:01)**

Hal consulted a map on his ring display and sighed “Half an hour to 40 minutes.”

“And how far away is back up?” Flash asked.

“The first wave is unfortunately the Cadets since they escaped from Sector 0000. Don't be too harsh on them, if they don't have confidence then they won't be able to do anything with their rings. They're 45 minutes out. The Outer Rim Lanterns are anywhere from an hour to 2 hours away.”

Batman sighed “So you're saying the Cadets and the Outer Rim Lanterns are the worst Lanterns?”

“Yes I am. But they're still good, they're just not _as_ good.” He sighed “I'm going to check on John and Kyle. He called the two on separate screens. But as it turned out the two were fighting back to back.

“Hal, I can't reach Guy.” Kyle yelled.

“Guy is dead.”

“What!” John exclaimed as he threw up a barrier “These damned Manhunters, I'm going to tear them apart!”

Kyle grunted “We not going to last out here. We're sitting ducks John.”

“How far away is Mogo?”

“Mogo's not answering!” Kyle yelled.

“Mogo's dead?” Hal exclaimed “Mogo is a planet, how can he be dead?”

“We don't know he's dead.” John sent out a huge blast that ripped through two Manhunters but more came and replaced them “Call Saintwalker!”

“I've tried that too!” Kyle yelled “And I tried Razer, no one's answering!”

Hal's eyes widened “The Blue Lanterns can't be dead!” He called them himself and only got static from Saintwalker. Razer did answer though.

“Hal! What's happening!”

“How are the other Blues?”

He shook his head “Gone.”

“I'm sorry. John and Kyle are pinned down, they could really use your help.”

Razer nodded “Yeah, give me co-ordinates, I'll see what I can do.”

Razor thankfully wasn't too far away and managed to swoop in with a save at the last moment, getting the two out of harms way “We're heading to you, we'll be there in 20 minutes.” Kyle told everyone.

Hal hung up and rubbed his face “This is a disaster. Our entire plan is screwed up, they were supposed to be detected in the Outer Rims and then we were going to wage an all out war where no one could get hurt except the soldiers.”

_Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)_

“It's going to be a lot harder battling so close to Earth. 

Superman took charge “We've all been in impossible situations before and this is no different. We have back up on the way and the full might of every Justice League member and every super hero to draw on. We can do this, we will do this, we have to.”

Batman agreed “So let's do this. I'll co-ordinate everyone in the sky.” Just then the sky shield activated a huge bright blue dome started forming around the Earth originating from the Watch Tower and linking up to other satellites around the planet “Also, anyone with a satellite I'm hijacking them. Sorry about that.”

Hal grinned “See! This is what I mean, you infringe on people's rights for the good of humanity! You just proved my point!”

“Just get in the air flyboy.”


	17. 16) Like Flies

****

**Chapter 16:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

 **LOCATION: Washington DC  
DATE: 01/09/2019** (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

**TIME: 5:26 PM (17:26)**

The two Earth Lanterns and the one Blue Lantern reached Earth as promised, a few minutes before the Manhunters did.

Batman explained the force field “It's one way, things can get out they can't get in which means those guys are stuck out there unless I take the shield down.

Hal sighed “How far away are the Manhunters?”

“5 minutes maybe.” Kyle answered.

“And how long would it take to get the shields back up?”

Batman thought for a second “Yeah I could do it, just have everyone on guard whilst I do this.”

The shield was placed back up just as the Manhunter swarm became visible “There's so many!” Wally announced.

_And you're in ten feet deep  
But we've survived  
More terrible monsters_

**TIME: 5:32 PM (17:32)**

Batman nodded grimly in agreement “Yeah there are. Superman, Lanterns, Dr Fate, Rocket get up there but make sure to stay inside the bubble. If you fall out I won't be able to get you back in. Captain Atom, Firestorm, Red Tornado, Supergirl, Powergirl, Stargirl, Starfire, Bumblebee and Raven you're up too.”

The aforementioned flying heroes with long range powers all nodded and flew into their positions in the sky and started shooting at enemies, knocking them back although it became very clear early on that the 4 Lanterns they had were the only ones doing any real damage. Even Superman and Supergirl's heat vision and freeze breath was having minimal effect.

Batman pointed at some of the grounded heroes “Green Arrow get the arrow plane. Nightwing,” Dick and Helena had changed back into their vigilante costumes “get the Batwing. Black Canary get Javelin I, you have the biggest guns, use them. Batgirl can you hack into the US defence systems and get something shooting outwards at these things?”

“Can I or will I? Because you know I can.” But she didn't wait for an answer already off to complete her task.

“What about us?” Shazam asked pointing at himself, Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian, Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl.

“You guys are strong but you're not long range fighters, if you got up there you'd have to leave the bubble to deal any damage. You're our second line of defence if and when that shield falls.”

“And us?” Wally asked, referring to everyone still left doing nothing. He couldn't stand around and watch as their safety net slowly got chipped away by these monsters.

“Flash, you, Kid Flash, Terra, Robin, Red Robin, Tigress and Huntress need to get civilians out of this area. When those things get through they'll be heading straight for us. We're the biggest threats.”

“On it.” The group got to work immediately. Huntress was surprised Batman had acknowledged her at all but she guessed desperate times called for desperate measures, they didn't have time to worry about their moral differences.

It was at that point that Nightwing, Black Canary and Green Arrow rejoined the fight with their aircrafts in tow and blasting Manhunters down like they were in Star Wars.

Batman nodded. The Manhunters were being blown back by every hit the League landed which allowed the Lanterns to finished them off and the shield was holding. Back up was only a couple of minutes away but that didn't make it any less disheartening how slowly they were making a dent. In fact they weren't making a dent, there were still so many robots.

Batman sighed “Okay we need all the Javelins in the air, Aqualad, myself and Vixen will fly Javelins II, III and IV. Atom can you fly Javelin V?”

“Yeah I can fly a Javelin.” Atom assured them “I've flown a time travelling space ship, I'm sure I could fly Javelin V.”

Batman nodded “Okay then. Please don't crash it. And remember everyone stay inside the barriers.”

**TIME: 5:49 PM (17:49)**

Just then a space ship came into view that looked very different then any they had seen before. It was white with bright green accents and it had a round quality about it that most ships did not possess. The hanger opened and a small squadron of about 30 Green Lantern Cadets exited the vehicle. 5 of them threw up a shield to defend them whilst the others fired on the Manhunters. It was a pretty good plan over all and Hal was pretty proud of how far they had come, Kilowag would be proud of his students if he saw them fighting to defend his sector form The Manhunters without any guidance from actual Lanterns.

It took him a moment to realised that Arisia had taken the lead, she was commanding her peers like a general would, yelling instructions and keeping everyone safe as they fought. Even under the circumstanced Hal couldn't hide his smile at seeing her like that.

His smile dropped pretty quickly when the barrier flicked for a second and a few Manhunters fell through. Kyle, who was closest to them ripped them apart in a burst of energy but this wasn't looking good for them, the barrier was wavering Hal yelled down at the second line of defence Batman had set up “Get ready guys, this is happening!”

It flickered again and this time 20 Manhunters flew through. Superman punched 3 back outside the barrier, and Wonder Woman lassoed another two sending them in Raser's direction and he blasted them to pieces. The others were taken care of either by destroying them or pushing them back outside the barrier and on the other side The GL Cadets still had their formation in tact and were going strong.

When the barrier flicked for the third time the Manhunters were ready, they all dived forward and this time fifty something made it through. The skies lit up with fire and blasts and yells and war as the League fought them with all their might. All their might wasn't all that much against these almost indestructible robots.

Some Manhunters began to peel off the main group and dive towards civilians who were being looked after by the flightless heroes but it wasn't that that grabbed Hal's attention nor was it the fourth flicker of the barrier and more bots pouring through. No the thing that had Hal freezing mid fight was the sight of “Aya!” he called out to her.

It turned towards him and regarded him with cold eyes. It flew at him and then stopped “Green Lantern of Sector 2815.”

“Aya, why are you doing this?! You have to stop this!”

“Emotional beings are a problem. I am solving the problem.”

“By killing everyone?”

“I am solving the problem.”

“Aya you were my friend! I thought of you as a Green Lantern like the rest of us! A Green Lantern Aya, you called yourself that once, this isn't what Lanterns do.”

“I am no Lantern, I was never a Lantern. I have no ring. I have no powers in constructs. I am not approved by the Guardians.”

“The Guardians are idiots!”

“They are also all dead.”

“The Guardians aren't the authority on everything. You were a Lantern whether they agreed or not and you were my friend. I was yours.”

“I am different now. You have a hard time understanding that. I will show you.” It turned away from him and changed its voice to be less robotic and then called out “Rasor!”

Rasor turned around and his eyes widened when he spotted Aya, the woman he had loved and lost because he had been too stupid to tell her how he felt. “Aya!” He rushed towards her.

Hal held out a hand “Rasor no! It's a trap!”

But there was no stopping him. And Aya grabbed him by his throat and turned back to Hal “You see _Hal_ I am not the Aya you once knew. Now I am better.”

“Aya, please don't do this. Please. Rasor loved you, he still does.”

“I do not need love. Love is for those of emotions. The Star Sapphires were very easy to take out, that is proof that love is weak.” It twisted its hand and there was a sickening crack from Rasor's neck.

“NOOOOO! RASOR!” Hal screamed. His eyes widened and his very being filled with rage. Guy was dead, Kilowag was dead , Saintwalker and the other Blue Lanterns were dead, the Cadets were out there fighting for their lives and now Aya had just killed Rasor. He instinctively held out his hand just in time for a Red Lantern ring to snap onto his finger, he didn't know how he knew it was there or how he could use it but he let our a huge burst of red energy at Aya but Manhunters threw themselves in front of it and stopped the beam from even getting near it.

“You see now. Emotions serve no purpose in this universe, will power, love, anger. They're all useless. I will make the universe more efficient. As we speak I am sending out my army to destroy this planet you hold so dear. Humans are weak, even as we speak your President flees from my forces. You once told me it is a leader's duty to go down with his ship, America is sinking and everyone will go down with it.” It pointed its blaster at John Stewart’s back to let off a shot but Kyle leapt in front of him and took the bullet.

**TIME: 6:08 PM (18:08)**

John spun around in time to see Kyle ripped apart by a beam of green energy, he followed where it had come from and his eyes fell on Aya “You!” He exclaimed in anger “You double crossing-” He was struck from behind by a Manhunter and he yelled and blasted them away from himself. He spun around with a huge construct blade and sliced through all the Manhunters around him and then once his littler area was clear he flew right at Aya “You'll pay for that!” It didn't even move as he rammed into her, destroying its body like it was made of paper. Of course she had learnt her lesson from her adventures with Hal, she had a backed up body. John panted heavily “Hal... Kyle's... he jumped in front of me.”

“I know.”

“I didn't even see it coming.”

“John,” Hal sighed heavily “There's still a war all around us. We need to win this, for Kyle, for Guy, for Raser, Mogo, Cloud Saintwalker, Tomer-Reh and Kilowag.”

John raised his ringed hand “In Brightest Day.”

Hal copied him “In Blackest Night.”

Then together they said “No evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil's might, Beware my power – Green Lantern's light!”

They joined hands and pointed their rings at a group of Manhunters a let out a huge joint blast of green energy and as soon as it was over they separated, John kicking ass with huge tanks made of green light and Hal using a mixture of both red and green energy as if he'd been duel wielding for years.

In minutes they'd taken out a huge chunk of the Manhunters in their area but as soon as they stopped, the empty space got refilled and it was as if they hadn’t done anything. Hal growled at their lack of progress. They had 40 minutes before more back up came but this shield was doing less and less shielding with each hit from the Manhunters on the outside and more were pouring in, the gaps between the flickers were getting less and less and Batman confirmed his fear in their comms “The shield's going to go completely off line soon. Everyone get ready, they'll be coming in hard and fast.”

Nightwing grunted as his ship took a hit “I'm getting reports of Manhunters targeting armies all over the globe. Russia's arming their nukes.”

Batgirl added “So is Britain, China and North Korea.”

Nightwing scoffed “Never thought I'd be happy to hear N Korea is using nukes. Hey Batgirl, how's your hacking going along?”

“Give it a second would you.”

“Sorry, just kind of in a tight situation here.” He spun around and shot torpedoes at a few Manhunters. “Fuck.” He grunted as his left wing took a hit, he lurched to the left but stayed air borne “That was too close.”

Suddenly two Lockhead YF-12s came up on Nightwing's left and right, One was piloted by Steve Trevor and the other was just some random army guy but they let out a couple shots at the Manhunters and Steve gave Nightwing a salute. Dick saluted him back with a small smile, this was why him and Wonder Woman were together, they both flew into danger instead of away. It was a wonder they weren't both dead already.

Batman patched them both into their communication “Trevor welcome to the party.” Oliver greet him.

Steve laughed “I don't see how this is a party. We were monitoring the situation, you guys don't seem to have much effect on them.”

“Only a Lantern can defeat them or something.” Oliver replied.

Bruce asked “The Government sent you in?”

“The Manhunters killed everyone in Luxembourg and they're taking out huge chunks of Europe. As you can imagine no one wants us to be next but no one wanted to volunteer except us two so here we are.”

“Crap!” Steve's army friend yelled as he was suddenly and randomly targeted by several Manhunters rather then just the one at a time like had been happening.

“Don't worry, I got you.” Batgirl said and suddenly a huge blast from no where shot a bunch of Manhunters back outside the barrier. “Sorry it took so long, I had to find some black site weapons on US soil, which as you can imagine is pretty hard.”

“Whoo. Thanks.” he said as he got back to weaving around robots and heroes alike in the airs.

Batman sighed “If any more get through everyone in a ship is about to take a tumble for the worst-” just as he finished his sentence the shield cut out completely. Batman sighed “Is it too late to touch wood?”

Steve yelled “MAYDAY! Taking a tumble for the worst over here!” Since they hadn't been that high off the ground when Steve parachuted out it didn't really do much to slow his descent “Fuuuuuuck that's not good!”

Wonder Woman turned around to locate him “Steve!” She abandoned the fight and dived through the air towards him, behind her the other army jet blew up and Atom's ship crashed into the Capitol building.

“Diana! I love you!”

“I love you to, but you're not dying today!” She was never going to reach him in time, she could see that so she did the only thing she could do, she grabbed her lasso and swung it at him just before he hit the ground. It hooked him around the waste but the sudden inertia, the dead stand still was just as bad as the landing itself so when Wonder Woman reached him he was lifeless. “No!” she had caught him in time but as if by some cruel twist of fate it he been her saving him that had snapped his spine and killed him.  
 **(Sorry Gwen Stacey, I ripped off your death.)**

“No, no no no no!!!! Steve no, please don't be dead. You can't be!” She sobbed.

Wally ran towards her, since they were on the ground and was by her side in seconds. He took one look at Steve and realised he was dead “Princess,” he enveloped her in a hug “I'm so sorry.”

“He wasn't supposed to die like this! He wasn't supposed to die at all!”

“I know, I'm sorry.” Wally, rubbed her arms comfortingly, the way Uncle Barry had done for him when he had been upset about something. He put her head in the crook of his neck the way Aunt Iris did when he was sad.

Diana took a moment to compose herself and then stood up “His death will not be for nought.” She growled as she threw herself back into the battle with fervour and ferocity. Maybe a little too much ferocity. She ploughed through a line of Manhunters and before anyone could stop her she was cut off from everyone else and within enemy ranks. She fought with vigour, he sword slashing at anything that came close but ultimately she could do no real damage, only inflicting superficial wounds on unfeeling monsters and she fell back to earth, hitting the ground with a loud thud, dead.

After that Leaguers started dropping like flies. Green Arrow and Black Canary's ships went down hard and neither replied to calls. Superman couldn't hear their heart beats. Wonder Girl who had tried to go after her older sister had been halted by attacks and died in vain.

Shazam, Captain Atom, Red Tornado and Hawkgirl wound up a bloody mess on the ground filled with feathers and metal scraps.

Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian were holding their won by going intangible until the Manhunters started playing with fire, then they too fell from the skies.

Raven, Zatanna, Rocket and Stargirl were next.

The heroes on the ground checked their pulses and reported their deaths as they were confirmed. They'd gotten villains out of the area but it seemed all for nought as more Manhunters poured in and started targeting them all over the world. Flash looked around, the world was falling apart. 

 

**TIME: 7:00 PM (19:00)**

Even the arrival of more Lanterns was not enough to tip the tides in their favour. They were untrained and not used to working together. They didn't have the same camaraderie as the Cadets did and none of them were willing to allow someone else to shield them whilst they attacked the way Arisia had done and so they were picked off one by one.

Soon even the Cadets unbreakable defences fell to the power of the Manhunters. Whether from a natural weakening over time or because their morale was down from the death of so many referred heroes. Superman was well known through out the inner sectors as the most powerful being in the universe but he, his cousin and his cousin's clone were all getting their assess handed to them.

It was when those on the ground started dying that Flash got a chance to do something, not that it mattered in the end.

Terra threw a huge boulder but the Manhunters just caught it and threw it back, crushing her under its weight.

Wally pulled Vixen out of the way from another attack but he might as well not have since when he left her to save Huntress she died anyways.

Huntress was bleeding and had blood down the side of her face and all she really had was a crossbow and her skills but she had held her own for a while. “Wally, we can't win this.”

“We can't give up! We have to try.”

“Look around! There's no place to run to.”

“The Justice League doesn't run.”

“Most of the League is dead!” She screamed at him. And then in the distance she saw something “ROBIN!” She screamed pointing at something behind Wally.

Wally spun around and watched as Damian Wayne fell to the ground. Everything went into slow motion. Robin was 11. Robin was 11 and he was dying.

Somewhere above him Nightwing screamed as well “No!” He steered his plane for the ground and leapt out, rushing towards his younger brother “Robin! Damian!” he stumbled through the wrecked street and fell to his knees at Robin's side “No please Damian, you can't die. I can't lose another brother. Not you, you're too young.” he hugged the corpse of Damian close to him and from across the battlefield Wally watched with wide eyes, his breath held as if that would help somehow, as if if he didn't breath Damian would come back to life. 

Huntress started yelling again when Manhunters started swarming Nightwing. She started running towards him but she was much too slow. Wally picked her up and zoomed her forward and the two of them fought off the onslaught for as long as they could.

It wasn't very long.

Huntress was tossed to the side like a broken rag doll and was dead within seconds. Wally's leg was broken and he found himself on the ground a few metres away without really knowing how he'd gotten there.

Dick was dead by the time Wally managed to turn his head. His body thrown over Damain's in some misguided attempt to protect someone who was already dead.

Over comms he heard Batgirl scream as her location was discovered and she was slaughtered by Manhunters.

Bumblebee, Starfire, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Firestorm, Aqualad. They all fell in rapid succession.

Batman's planes was chopped out of the sky and hit the ground with a sickening thud. The silence over the comm line told him everything he needed to know about Batman's status.

Somehow Kid Flash and Red Robin were the last non-Super people to go. Of course Wally was still alive but he could barely move. He didn't feel anything, he supposed that's why he hadn't been targeted yet, no emotions when you're numb.

Superman, Supergirl and Powergirl raged on along with Hal and John but they were all tiring.

Flash turned towards an ear splitting scream, it seemed to come from above him. There was a girl, a blond girl dressed in green and white falling to the ground. There was someone flying after her a woman who was actually green.

Who ever they were Hal must have known them because he flew to their defence.

The blond girl was shot mid air and a trail of blue blood trailed her through the sky. The Green girl just hit the ground with a grotesque splat.

Hal screamed and then was promptly killed as well.

John Stewart went down not long after.

Wally needed to do something. But he really couldn't move.

Powergirl hit the ground, hard, causing the ground to shake.

Superman fell through about 20 buildings and didn't get back up.

Supergirl found herself shoved through the ground itself and buried several hundred feet under ground level. She couldn't find it in her self to dig her way out.

Wally was the last one.

He should do something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Long Range Air Team:**  
>  Superman  
> Hal GL  
> Starfire  
> Supergirl  
> Powergirl  
> Stargirl  
> Raven  
> Bumblebee  
> Rocket   
> Dr Fate  
> Red Tornado  
> Firestorm
> 
>  **Back Up Air Team**  
>  Wonder Woman  
> Shazam  
> Captain Atom  
> Atom  
> Hawkgirl  
> Hawkman  
> Martian Manhunter  
> Miss Martian  
> Cassandra Sandsmark Wonder girl
> 
>  **Ground Team:**  
>  Batgirl  
> Nightwing  
> Red Robin  
> Robin  
> Batman  
> Vixen  
> Green Arrow  
> Black Canary  
> Huntress  
> Kid Flash  
> Flash  
> Terra   
> Aqualad


	18. 17) That Leads You To Another Life

****

**Chapter 17:  
EARTH-25, Alternate Timeline**

**LOCATION: Washington DC**  
 **DATE: 01/09/2019** (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

Wally lay on the ground as blood poured from every wound in his body.

He ached all over but the largest hurt was in his heart as he found the strength to look around at the scene around him.

Death was all around him. It clung to him, like the night in the grave yard, it was everywhere.

Broken bodies of reporters and civilians who had been at the Press Conference were strewn everywhere. It had only been 4 hours ago but it felt like a lifetime.

He wasn't sure when Artemis had died but her body was amongst the rest of them.

Green Lantern corpses were everywhere. They littered the earth. The Justice League was in pieces, the only one still visibly alive was Powergirl and she couldn't even stand at that point, she was being over run with too many damn Manhunters.

Wally reached out his hand to where Nightwing's body was, it was shielding Robin. Even in his final seconds he still tried to save someone, it hadn't worked of course, Damian was dead too, but at least he tried.

Somewhere in Central City a Manhunter would be kicking down Aunt Iris' door and dashing out the twins brains on the cement. They were only 3.

Everyone else was dead or about to die.

This was it. The world was ending. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought 'It's my fault'.

How could it be his fault? How could he have stopped this from happening?

_Close your eyes_  
I know what you see  
The darkness is high  
And you're in ten feet deep  
But we've survived  
More terrible monster than sleep  
And you know I will be here, to tell you to breathe 

_Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)_  
la ragione per cui vivo (the reason i live)  
non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)  
io vegliero su di te (i'm watching over you) 

That's a pretty song, he thought.

_Stumbling lost_  
The last choice of all that you meet  
It's the cost  
Of ruling those 'neath your feet  
Paths you've crossed,  
and trust you're trying to keep  
You're exhausted  
Listening for a voice that can't speak 

_Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)_  
la ragione ho vissuto (the reason I live)  
non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)  
io vegliero su di te (i'm watching over you) 

I wonder where that's from.

_So you run_  
Through shadows you roam  
seams undone  
By the love you thought you could own  
but he's just one  
Of many that you might call home  
And maybe someday, the bitter will fade from your bones  
Fade from your bones... 

There was more to the song wasn't there?

_eri il mio soldatino (you were my little soldier)_  
ora un principe oscuro (now a dark prince)  
ma anche per te, c'e una luce (but even for you, there is a light)  
che ad un'altra vita ti conduce (that leads you to another life) 

 

Another life.

Where was this song from? 

His mum used to sing it to him.

But not this mum, not the mum he'd grown up with.

Some other distant mum.

That doesn't make any sense only it was the only thing that did.

Suddenly an image of Dick, Roy and himself being yelled at by Oliver with sirens and cool cars all around them ran through his mind.

He remembered that.

But it never happened.

_Bruce was dead._

_“Dick's in the kitchen.”_

_“I know this is a stupid question but is he okay?”_

_“He's trying to be. For Damien. And Barbara's trying to be for him.”_

_Wally gave a weak smile “Thank God for Barbara Gordon.”_

The darkness is high  
And you're in ten feet deep 

_Dick rolled his eyes again “Guys seriously.”_

_“Oh my God! Dick, you actually like her. Like, you like-like her!” Wally realised._

_“What are we in 4th grade now?” He tried to brush off the question but he was blushing._

_“Oh my God, you do!” Wally exclaimed, than addressed Roy “He does!”_

_Roy nodded “Dude, you got it baaaad.”_

So you run  
Through shadows you roam  
seams undone  
By the love you thought you could own

_Dick entered the room and saw Wally and Ryan meeting for the first time“Wall-man! You're here!” They hugged “Man it feels like I haven't seen you in ages.”_  
“Well we do live like three states apart. Wait, is Roy coming?”  
“Nah, Roy's chilling with Jade and her family.”  
“Fair enough.” Wally nodded “When we were kids, if you had told me you'd be with Kori and Roy'd be with Jade I would have laughed in your face.”  
“Dude when we met I was still in my girl-cooties phase.” Dick laughed. 

Stumbling lost  
The last choice of all that you meet

_“Look Dick if ever you're in trouble...Just call me okay.”_  
“Um. If I have the time-”  
“No, Dick promise me, if you're in trouble or she comes back for round two you'll call me as it's happening, immediately.”  
Dick hesitated, clearly confused but he promised “I swear I will.” 

non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)

_Wow. You two are the worst.” Dick laughed “I'm hanging up on both of you.”_  
“Biya Dickie-bird.” Roy sang.  
“Bye Officer Mc'Hottie.” 

Another time, another life flitted through his head in small broken up clips.

This wasn't right.

This shouldn't be happening.

_Flashpoint Paradox_

He had changed the timeline and everyone was dead because of it.

_ma anche per te, c'e una luce (but even for you, there is a light)  
che ad un'altra vita ti conduce (that leads you to another life) _

He stood up, ignoring the way his leg bones moved in protest, it was definitely broken and what he was about to do wouldn't be fun but he had to. It was their only chance.

The Manhunters turned to him and aimed their blasters but he was already running.

He lapped the earth once but his leg was slowing him down, he'd never get enough speed at that rate and he'd just injure himself more by running but he had to try.

He ran faster, he lapped the Earth two times, three times, four; each time seeing more death and destruction and chaos, people screaming out for help.

Wally fan faster, his leg breaking more and more each time his foot hit the ground but his super healing fixing it every time it was in the air. Five laps, six laps, seven laps, eight.

And by then the Manhunters seemed to have figured out at least part of his plan. They formed up in long lines to block his routes and stop him from running so they could take him out with one good shot.

He was tired, his leg was broken and he couldn't get enough speed. How was he going to break the time barrier at this rate.

A Manhunter let off a shot and it was with sickening certainty did Wally realise he was about to run straight into it and there was no time to break or change directions, this was it, he was going to die and be responsible for the genocide of everyone in the universe.

All the Lanterns were dead, everyone was dead, no one would survive. No man could escape the Manhunters.

And then just before the blast hit him a time portal opened, or rather he opened a time portal, he ran through it focussed on all the memories from his other life, his 'real' life, of the secrets he'd kept from Dick and the pain of his mother dying. Everything that had made him, him.

And he landed in Downtown Central City. He collapse on the floor. Around him people yelped in shock as the costumed man appeared out of no where and then fell to the ground.

Flash looked up the sky, from his place on the ground, the sky that wasn't filled with Manhunters and fire. He smiled and then he laughed and then he whooped “YES! Whooooooooo! I did it!” He lifted his arms up and waved them around and when someone approached him he greeted them with a huge hug. He didn't know who it was but he couldn't give two fucks because at least everyone wasn't dead.

He pointed at someone “You sir, what day is it today?”

“I'm a woman.” She answered offended “And it's the 25th of July.” As she walked away she muttered “Flash jerk.”

“The 25th of July?” That's 25 days from when he had left. On one hand he had missed 25 days but on the other hand he had only missed 25 days. It could have been worse. He could lying dead on the street of Washington DC like in that other timeline.

He got up cautiously but found he didn't have to since in this timeline he'd never been injured so his leg was fine. He whooped again and fist pumped the air “Yes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again the song is Soldatino by Paola Bennet.


	19. EPILOGUE) 25 Days Later

**EPILOGUE: EARTH-25, Main Timeline**

**LOCATION: West-Allen House, Central City**

**DATE: 25/07/2019**

 

Wally's leg may no longer be broken but he was still exhausted and it was the middle of the day on a Friday so when he finally got home, to _his_ home he lay down on the sofa and fell asleep.

He was woken up in what felt like a couple minutes but he later discovered was several hours by Iris who looked like she was about to cry. She had her phone out and was calling Barry “He's home Barry! He's here on the sofa.”

“Mmm-wha?” He mumbled as he blinked himself awake. “Iris!” he exclaimed and flung his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She returned the hug, almost sobbing.

“Oh my God Wally where were you? Don't ever disappear like that ever again, we were so worried.”

“I'm sorry Aunt Iris. I-” There was a sound at the front door and then Barry was standing in the living room staring at Wally like he couldn't believe he was really there “Barry!” He exclaimed flinging himself onto his uncle “I missed you so much.”

“You missed me? I missed you! Where the hell have you been for the past month?”

Wally winced “it was only 25 days.”

“Only?!” Iris exclaimed.

“Okay, I know, it's a long time. I didn't really plan to be gone that long to be honest. I didn't plan to be gone at all.” he didn't mention that he didn't plan to be gone because he had expected to erase this entire timeline.

“What happened?” Barry asked, more softly.

“I... when mum died I...”

Barry sighed “You ran back in time and changed everything.”

“Yeah.”

“But then everything turned out so much worse?”

“You were dead. The world ended.”

Barry nodded understandingly “That sounds about right. I... I did the same thing.”

Wally laughed “According to Batman the you of the other timeline also did it.”

“Batman?” Barry asked.

Wally laughed “Never mind. I'm just glad to be back home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one more chapter guys. Just because this says epilogue doesn't mean this is the end.


	20. EPILOGUE 2) Oh To Be Rich And Famous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dick's first gala that has been hyped up since the last chapter of 'Big Brother. Dad.', which was mentioned in 'Upper Class Snob. Hard Working Detective.' which I have been excited as hell to write because it was this one scene that sparked the idea of this whole universe. 
> 
> I'm not even kidding I thought imagine this and built a whole universe with the sole purpose of having this make sense and being as impactful as the other version of this have been. You'll see what I mean when I read it.

  **EPILOGUE x2: EARTH-25, Main Timeline**

**LOCATION: Wayne Manor, Gotham**

**DATE: 26/07/2019**

 

Wally was starving. Since he'd come back just in time Iris had convinced him to go to Dick's first Gala to support him. This would be his first one without Bruce.

He had remembered how happy other-Iris had been when she'd gotten a Wayne Gala press pass and called Dick up wondering if he could score some this time “Hey Dick.”

“Wally, where have you been like this whole month?”

“I'll... I'll explain at the Gala.”

“Oh you're coming?”

“Of course.”

“Thank God, Iris made it sound like she wasn't sure you would on the phone.”

“Come on, am I going to miss you chatting it up with Gotham's Elite?”

Dick laughed “True, I don't know why I ever doubted you.”

Wally smiled. This was his Dick, this felt right. “Hey uuh Dick, can I ask you for a favour?” the thought of Artemis crossed his mind “Actually two?”

“Sure ask away.”

“Firstly could Iris get a press pass?”

“I'll get someone on that right away. In fact I can't believe I didn't already do this I mean Clark and Lois have press passes.” He added “And Vicki Vale.”

Wally laughed “Vicki must love that.”

“She has a funny way of showing it, every year she gushes about how grateful she is to be invited as press and every year she writes some piece putting everyone at the party down. Anyways second favour?”

“I assume Roy has a plus one?”

“Jade, yeah, they're pretty serious it would be rude if I didn't.”

“I was wondering if you could make that a plus two.”

Dick paused “Um yeah, I can do that. Why exactly?”

“I'll explain everything at the Gala, or after the gala if you're busy I promise but you are the best Dick thanks a bunch.”

“You're planning something?”

“Yes I am.”

“Okay then. I'll see you tonight.”

“See you tonight. Bye!” Wally hung up and then called Roy.

“Where have you been for like 20 days?”

“I'll explain at the gala. Roy I need to ask you two favours.”

Roy sighed “Sure, go ahead.”

“Firstly I asked Dick to give you a plus 2, I need you to bring Jade's sister.”

“What? Why?”

“I'll explain everything later I promise.”

Roy sighed again “Fine, I'll ask her if she wants to come. What's the second favour.”

“I need help coming up with a lie of where I've been for Dick. It was kind of powers related, super hard to explain although I will try.”

“I'll try and think of a cover story that makes sense. Man you have so much explaining to do, I'll expect the FULL story.”

“Thanks Roy, I owe you one, and I'll definitely tell you everything.” they said their goodbyes and hung up.

Wally was still starving. He rummaged around in his cupboard for his energy bars only to discover Barry had literally eaten all of them. “Great.” he grumbled. “You're gone for a month and your uncle eats your food.”

He usually had stores in his suit but when he check his yellow Kid Flash suit the pockets were empty. He turned to his alternate time line Flash suit that for some reason hadn't been wiped from the timeline like everything else had and checked its pockets. He did not find food, instead he found an envolope that had 'Dear Dick' written on it.

When had he gotten this?

A memory of Batman asking him to take the letter ran through his head. He pulled it out, despite himself and read a few lines 'Dear Dick,

I know I'm not the Bruce you know, and you're not the Dick Grayson I know but I wanted you to know that love you'

It was a note from alternate Bruce to main Dick. He had to give this to him but how was he supposed to explain this?

In the alternate timeline he'd been mad for keeping secrets about his plans from everyone and then Dick had been mad at him for keeping secrets about his timeline hopping escapades. Maybe it was a warning that he shouldn't keep secrets form Dick.

Here he was trying so hard to come up with a lie as to where he'd been all this time when he could just tell him the truth. He was a superhero. He called Roy back “Roy forget the second favour.”

“You came up with a story?”

“No, I don't need one. I'm telling Dick the truth. I'm telling him I'm Kid Flash.”

“WHAT! Are you sure that's for the best? Black Canary won't be happy if she finds out.”

“I don't care. Roy he's our best friend and we've been lying to him for years. I think it's time we told him.”

“You want me to tell him I'm Red Arrow as well?”

“Well I mean... you don't have to but I would appreciate it.”

Roy was silent for a moment “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I'll do it, I'll tell him the truth. Screw Black Canary.” Roy paused for a second “Also maybe 'Okay' can be our 'Always'.”

Wally groaned loudly “Come on man, I thought I was the funny one and you were the bad boy, how are you making Fault In Our Stars references right now, that hasn't been relevant since 2014. That was 5 years ago dude.”

“Hey, you can't put a date on good story telling.”

“God you're unbelievable.”

“Hang on, Jade just got back. I'm going to ask her to ask Artemis to come to the Gala with us.”

“Thanks again bro.”

 

Half an hour later he got a text from Roy.

 

> Roy: Artemis said she'd come. ✓✓ 17:00
> 
> Wally: Awesome. Thanks dude. ✓✓ 17:00

Everything was in place. He'll meet the lady who might be his future wife. He'll tell his best friend he's a superhero and hope he doesn't hate him for lying.

He needed to make sure his suit looked okay. And make sure him and Bart didn't- he stopped. Bart. There was no Bart Allen here, he didn't exist. At least not yet.

He wondered if Iris was pregnant with the twins. It's not like he could ask her, if she wasn't even showing. That would be weird and insulting probably.

He would open up a savings account for those kids just in case. They'd probably be as smart as Barry and Iris are so they'd definitely want to go to college (and if they didn’t then Wally would have a buttload of saving in the future to spend on whatever he wanted).

As it turned out Iris had hoped he'd be back and had prepared his suit for him only she'd gotten him a tux with a bow tie since he hadn't been there to tell her 'no way' he sighed and put it on and then packed his KF suit into his Flash ring just in case something happened (something always happened in Gotham) and placed the letter in his inside pocket.

His phone, his wallet and his keys went in his other pocket and Iris took the invitation figuring Barry would lose it. She was probably right. That didn't stop the man from pouting like a child as they drove.

Wally wished they could have just run there but they needed to turn up in a car and his dress shoes weren't very durable plus Iris refused to get wind hair before she mingled with all these millionaires so drove they did.

When they pulled up Wally had the sudden feeling of deja vu, especially when he caught sight if Clark Kent interviewing someone and the superhero in disguise gave him a wink of acknowledgement.

Just like in the other time line, Iris ditched pretty quickly to get some quality quotes before everyone drank too much only now Wally didn't have a girl to dance with. It was just as he thought that that Roy walked in arm and arm with Jade and Artemis standing next to her.

Wally smiled when he saw her, all the feelings from that other time line flooding through him before he remembered that this Artemis didn't know him. And really he didn't know here either. But he still made some excuse to Barry and wondered towards the trio.

Roy greeted him with a bro-hug clasping hands as they bumped shoulders and he gave Jade a hug as well he then introduced himself to Artemis.

In the other time line Artemis had been an archer vigilante, in this one as far as Wally knew, she was just a regular girl. She had gone to Gotham High which was the complete opposite of the fancy Gotham Academy that Dick had gone to. It was weird to think that in the other timeline the two had gone to the same school. “Hi, I'm Wally West.” He held out a hand to shake.

“I'm Artemis Crock.”

“It's lovely to meet you.”

“You too.” Artemis smiled at him.

The small orchestra in the ball room started playing a new song and Jade perked up “Roy, let's dance!” She said dragging him through the halls and towards the dance floor.

Wally flailed for a second as Roy and Jade ditched them to be alone but then he realised that Jade didn't even like dancing and certainly not classically which meant Roy was trying to play matchmaker with them.

Artemis seemed to have come to the same conclusion because she laughed at her sister's antics and held out a hand “So do you want to dance as well?”

“Sure, I'd love to. Although I have to apologise in advance for stepping on your toes.”

Artemis smiled, “I'm sure it'll be okay.”

“Well don't say I didn't warn you.”

As it turned out he didn't step on her feet because she was leading which was probably for the best since Wally barely knew how to dance.

As they danced Wally asked her questions about herself and her life, he asked her favourite colour, her favourite food and her mum's name.

She liked pie a lot and watching action movies and she loved Greek mythology in part because of her name (Artemis Greek Goddess of the moon, archery, maidens, ect) but also because she just loved the adventures the heroes went on “Can you imagine? Going on some grand quest every other day, fighting evil, saving the day?”

Wally held in a 'I hear you sister' and opted for a “When you describe it like that they sound like superheroes.”

“Well they are! I mean some of them have cool powers or extra strength but the thing about the Greek heroes that makes to different from every other Greek in the stories is that they can do the impossible! Granted with the help of the gods but still.”

Wally nodded his head “Well there's the Amazonian Princess Warrior.”

“No way! Wonder Woman is here?” She spun around and sure enough there was Diana Princess of Themyscara smiling and talking to some of the children who had been dragged to the party by their parents. “She's my hero. I mean she's a princess, a warrior, a diplomat of peace. She's amazing.”

“Yeah, she really is. We should go see if we can talk to her.”

“Talk to Wonder Woman? What would I even say?!”

He shrugged “From what I've heard she just likes talking to the people. Maybe she'd just want to hear about all the different pies you can make.”

“Oh yeah sure, like I'm going to talk to Wonder Woman about a chicken and mushroom pie.”

Wally grinned at her and smiled “Did Roy ever tell you why me, him and Dick are such great friends?”

“No.”

“It's because we never back down from a challenge.” He took her hand and led her across the ball room.

“Where are we going?” And then she saw they were heading towards Wonder Woman “What are you doing?” she asked frantically “We can't just walk up to her and-” she stopped talking when they were right behind her.

“Excuse me Princess Diana.” Wally said politely.

She turned around with a smile “Hello.”

“I'm Wally West, this is my friend Artemis Crock.”

She greeted them both and they all exchanged hand shakes. “It's great to meet you both.”

Wally smiled “We're both such huge admirers of your work with the UN, especially Artemis she's like your biggest fan and she had a question for you if you don't mind.”

“Of course go ahead.”

Artemis dug a finger into Wally's back in warning. What the hell was he doing?

“What's your favourite kind of savoury pie?”

Diana thought about it for a second as Artemis grew redder by the second “Um, I think chicken and mushroom pies are the best.”

Artemis laughed nervously “We have the same favourite pie.”

As it turned out Artemis and Diana had a lot in common. Artemis made a joke about how the Greek Goddess of the moon was Artemis but her Roman counterpart was called Diana and they all laughed and then they got onto the topic of helping other people and volunteering. As it turned out Artemis helped out at a centre for woman (and men) coming out of abusive relationships and helped them get back on their feet. Wonder Woman glowed saying how it was a noble cause but it was terrible that people would feel the need to abuse the person they were supposed to love.

The conversation only ended when Wonder Woman was whisked away for some propaganda photos of her lifting people up for the front page of the Newspapers and for the Justice League website.

As soon as she had gone Artemis threw her arms around Wally “Oh my God thank you for making me do that this was the best day of my life!” She sparkled.

Just then Dick, who had been busy all evening entertaining rich bastards finally came up to him “Wally, Artemis hi. Sorry I haven't come by sooner, I keep getting dragged in all directions today. Mm you two look happy.”

Artemis nodded “Yeah, we just had an awesome conversation with Wonder Woman.”

Dick laughed “Oh yeah, isn't she the best? She's like if Oprah was a superhero.”

Wally agreed.

“Anyways sorry for this Artemis but can I borrow Wally?”

“Oh yeah sure, go ahead.” She said, “I'll go find my sister she'll be so jealous that she wasn't here.”

“Thanks.” Dick and Wally walked to a quieter part of the Manor and Roy was already waiting for them, looking extremely nervous. “So Wal man where have you been the last 25 days?”

Wally sighed “Okay, before I can explain that I have to set some things up but I need you to listen until the every end. Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Roy and I have been lying to you for years.”

“What?” He asked confused, cocking his head to the side.

“I'm about to tell you something and I'm not sure how well you're going to take it but you have to understand we didn't tell you to protect you, if you knew you could be in danger.”

“So why are you telling me now?”

“Because I've recently come to learn that keeping secrets from you is not the best way to go. Dick, I'm Kid Flash.”

“And I'm Red Arrow.”

Dick stared at the two of them and then after a couple of seconds of absolute silence he started laughing “Okay guys good one, but like seriously where have you been?”

“I'm being serious.”

“What? You're the Flash's sidekick? And you're what some arrow vigilante dude? Come on guys, at least try when you do these joint pranks.”

Wally grabbed Dick at super speed ad rushed them to the base of the Daily Planet building. Dick dry heaved as he tried to get control of his stomach once again and looked around “What!? How did we get here...?” He looked at Wally “Oh my God.”

Wally rushed them back and Dick spent a few second simply pointing furiously at Wally since his stomach was so twisted up he could barely speak and even of he could he wouldn't know what to say right now. Eventually he choked out “You're Kid Flash!”

“Yeah I am.”

“How- What- How?”

“Got hit by lightning a couple years ago. Dick I know you're probably still reeling form that truth bomb but now that you know the truth I can tell you where I've been. Speedsters like myself and the Flash, if we run fast enough we can run through time.”

“What?”

“And you know, my mum, she was the best person I ever knew and I didn't handle her death very well...”

“Wait, what are you saying?” Dick asked.

“Wally you didn't!” Roy exclaimed.

“I did. I ran back in time to change things for my mum, she didn't deserve what she got. It didn't seem fair and I had the power to change it so I ran back in time and got her out of that house and into Central City with Iris and Barry but there's something they don't tell you about time travel. When you change an event that defines people like that it doesn’t just effect the future, it ripples outwards in all directions, past included.”

Roy frowned “So you got there and everything was different?”

“Not overly different. Some things were really weird though. Bruce was a super hero called Batman and you were his ex-sidekick Nightwing. Roy you were Red Arrow and you were with Jade still only you were a clone of the original Roy Harper implanted into the League at a young age.”

“What?”

“Bruce was alive in this universe and Barry was dead. And Batman was one of the big three of the Justice League.”

“Bruce was alive?”

“Yeah but the two of you seemed to hate each other! You'd left after a plan went wrong and became a spy and Bruce hated that and you worked with this vigilante Huntress-”

“Huntress?” Roy asked thinking about Jade and Artemis' mother who was the ex-Huntress.

“Not that Huntress.” Wally assured him “Paula was really nice.”

“Anyway everyone found out I wasn't 'their Wally' and Batman yelled at me and then he told me to keep a note in my pocket for a reason I didn't understand until yesterday, then we all forgot about the time travel because that's a thing that happens as well and then the world almost ended. In fact it basically did and the only way to save everyone was to revert the time line back to how it was, letting Rudy hit my mum.”

Dick frowned “You're not responsible for what Rudy does.”

“Maybe not before but right now I am.”

“Wally the world was ending, you did the right thing.”

“It's the lesser of two evils, I don't think it was the right thing.” He sighed heavily “But I was looking for food in my pockets and I found the note. Dick it's a note from Bruce to you.”

“To Nightwing?”

“No to you of this timeline.” he reached into his pocket and handed it to Dick and he looked at it like it was the sun, stars and moon.

“This is really from Bruce?”

“Not our Bruce, but yeah.”

Dick unfolded it with shaky hands and read it slowly, his eyes welling with tears as he did. When he got to the end he hugged Wally and Roy “Thank you for this.”

“Don't thank me for this. I only got it because I was being extremely selfish.”

Dick shook his head “You were trying to save your mum, I understand. And thank you both for trusting me with your secrets.”

Roy smiled “Of course man, you're our best friend.”

Wally smiled to himself at Roy's declaration. In the other time line Clone-Roy had insisted they hadn't been best friends in a long time, Dick had been the same. It felt nice to have his brothers back.

Dick wiped his tears and put the letter in his pocket “Come on, let's go and enjoy the rest of the party. I have a charity to raise money for.”

“Oh yeah what's the cause?”

“Gotham Orphanages, I have the sweetest blond girl called Sally Syles here to guilt trip everyone.”

Wally laughed “Did she volunteer to fake cry?”

“Yeah! How'd you know?”

Wally just laughed some more “Forget about it, not important. I have a date to secure.”

Roy sputtered “With Artemis? Is that why you asked me to invite her?!”

Dick raised an eyebrow “That's what the extra ticket was for? So you could chat up Jade's sister?”

“We were fiancés in the other time line! I figured I'd give it a shot.”

“Dude, you have no chance, she's out of your league.” Roy punched him playfully.

“I could say the same about you and Jade.” Wally shot back.

“Shots fired.” Dick chuckled.

The trio chuckled and rejoined the party, Jade, Kori and Artemis gravitated towards them (they'd formed quite the team).

Dick was happy. He knew the pain of Bruce's death would never leave him but for the fist time since he was murdered he felt lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the top notes I was referring to of course the Flashpoint letter from Thomas Wayne Batman to Bruce Wayne Batman that The Flash delivered.
> 
> I wanted to do something like that but Bruce to Dick and so here we are. This is it. Also listen to this song:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_62m6LLGs
> 
> It's pretty great and captures the feeling I was kinda going for.


	21. EPILOGUE 3) ...Dear Dick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen to this song guys.
> 
> Dear Bruce by Trav B Ryan  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_62m6LLGs  
> Lyrics: (https://genius.com/Trav-b-ryan-dear-bruce-if-flashpoint-batman-was-a-rapper-lyrics)

_  
Dear Dick,_

_My son, there's only one thing I know about life.  
I know some things happen by chance, and some things happen because we make them happen, we fight for what we lost. So here I am making sure that you know that I love you. I know I'm not the Bruce you know and love, and you're not the Dick Grayson I know but I wanted you to know that no matter what time line we're in or what dimensions this letter travels it will always be true that Bruce Wayne loves Dick Grayson like a son._

_I let you down in my own time because I never showed you how much I loved you and we grew distant and then I was stubborn enough to let you go and it chewed me up inside for years. I hope the Bruce you know didn't make the same mistakes as I did, I hope he let you know that you are loved every single day of your life and I hope you understand that he meant it with every fibre in his being._

_Wally mentioned your Bruce died, it seems I let you down in every version of events. I understand what losing a parent can do to you and you've already lost 2 before me but you can't let the loss drag you down, you can't let it define you the way it defined me for my whole life. You're stronger than I ever was, I don't like admitting it but you are, if anyone can get through this, it's you._

_My father wrote me a letter in a situation very similar to this and he said that you can't have happiness and the truth. He urged me to chose happiness and I didn't and I regret that decision every time I chose my mission over my children. I'm asking you now to chose happiness. DO the thing I never did, be better than I was, give Damian and Tim a good life and make them happy._

_And just know that no matter what I will still be fighting for you. You are the greatest gift life has given me._

_P.S. Wally told me Tim's a work obsessed coffee addict, try and get him to relax every now and then, Wayne Industries won't fall down without him._

_Love you forever._  
Your father, Bruce Wayne   
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So the note has a couple different sources of inspiration which I will now proceed to link below.  
> \- The Flashpoint comic Flash #1 (https://comicvine.gamespot.com/flashpoint-thomas-waynes-letter-to-bruce/4055-57054/)
> 
> \- The Flashpoint Paradox Animated movie which has a slightly different letter and much shorter.  
>  **Dear Son,**  
>  There's only one thing that I know about life.  
> I know some things happen by chance.  
> We fight for what we lost.  
> Love always,  
> Your Father Thomas Wayne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-J11AQNBwk) 
> 
> \- FOX's Gotham which had a note form Thomas Wayne (https://78.media.tumblr.com/fc18397b05524224d9be47ef5f8a7534/tumblr_ouirgcoCcP1v08u1wo2_500.gif) 
> 
> \- Dear Bruce by Trav B Ryan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_62m6LLGs)  
> Lyrics: (https://genius.com/Trav-b-ryan-dear-bruce-if-flashpoint-batman-was-a-rapper-lyrics)
> 
> \- Whatever this picture is: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/86/3b/92/863b920bf746e15f2ba01588a405e257.jpg


End file.
